Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said that a one-time infusion of funds into the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit (COHB) program will help more than 1,300 unhoused people secure permanent accommodation.
“These additional housing benefits will prioritize asylum seekers in addition to other people experiencing homelessness,” city staff said in a news release on Monday.
The COHB is a monthly, government provided subsidy for low income households. It pays the difference between 30 per cent of a household’s income and the average market rent in the area, and can be used to help pay rent anywhere in Ontario.
In the past, the COHB has seen significant uptake from asylum-seeker households, the city said.
The provincial government drained its 2023/2024 reserves in May of this year, but has aligned with municipal leadership to provide a one-time $13.4 million top-up to ensure Toronto residents living in emergency accommodation can access permanent housing.
Currently, an estimated 9,000 people rely on the city’s shelters nightly, and over 35 per cent of them are asylum seekers. But, this single injection of funding should help 1,350 of those people access stable housing, in turn relieving the mounting pressure currently on the shelter system.
“People deserve dignified access to shelter and housing, regardless of their status, ” Chow said in a statement.
Leaders had to act with urgency, and the successful procurement of funding is an “an example of what different orders of government can do when they work together, ” Chow continued, before calling upon the federal government to “step up” in support of asylum seekers and refugees.
The COHB application portal and additional information about COHB can be found on the city’s website.
