- Disability Income Insecurity and Poverty
- Inaccessible and Unaffordable Housing
- TTC Inaccessibility and Unaffordability
We collectively chose our three current priorities because they all have a major impact on the lives of well over 570,00 disabled and Deaf GTA residents.
With the sharp rise in overall unaffordability as well as rental housing costs increasing in recent years, the lives of disabled people have been made more economically vulnerable than they already were before the pandemic. As disability poverty deepens, income security programs such as ODSP are not keeping up with the real cost of living in Toronto, and across Ontario. Transit unaffordability and inaccessibility were also increasingly top of mind for many in our community who reported feeling less able to access our city on the TTC.
Disability Income Insecurity and Poverty
Disability poverty and income insecurity levels are high and continue to worsen because of unlivable social assistance rates, unemployment, and high inflation and housing prices. Furthermore, disabled people have not been able to count on any layer of government for support despite overwhelming evidence that poverty leaves them in a constant state of vulnerability. Critically, women, Queer, Trans (2SLGBTQIA+) and racialized disabled people experience deeper poverty as a result of their intersecting marginalized identities.
The GTADC works for bold progress on eradicating disability poverty. We do this through our engagement with City of Toronto committees and divisions, working with partners who are addressing provincial and federal barriers to income equity for disabled people, such as the unjust low ODSP rates and $200 maximum Canada Disability Benefit.
Our disability poverty reduction work includes:
- Advising the City of Toronto’s Poverty Reduction Office (PRSO) on addressing the systemic gap that disabled residents are largely invisible in the pillars of their “Third Term Strategy Plan”
- Advancing the call for critically needed City investments in the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) through annual deputations at City Council Budget Committee meetings, at meetings with City councillors, and on our social platforms.
- Participating at partner tables convened by Social Planning Toronto contributing expertise and lived experience that embeds disabled residents’ needs in campaigns for an affordable fair Toronto that is accessible to everyone.
- Since we are primarily municipally focused in the GTA, we partner with and support provincial advocacy campaigns such as Raise the Rates Coalition’s campaigns and ODSP Action Coalition’s calls to action. We know that significant policy decisions are made at the provincial level such as problematic ODSP rates which force people into legislated poverty. Therefore, mobilizing with groups who are involved with this level of systemic advocacy is critical to addressing disability poverty in Toronto.
- Joining calls at the federal level to improve the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) as the amount is far below what people need to be lifted out of poverty and the current structure is not available to many as it requires applicants to be in receipt of the Disability Tax Credit (DTC). This lack of inclusion intensifies barriers to reducing poverty for disabled people across the country.
Inaccessible and Unaffordable Housing
The causes of housing inequity are interwoven across all layers of government. The following is a breakdown of areas that critically need to be addressed, municipally, provincially, and federally:
In Toronto
Toronto is in the middle of a worsening housing crisis and a homelessness emergency and disabled people are disproportionately vulnerable because of housing unaffordability and inaccessibility. Furthermore, Toronto’s Seniors Strategy (2018), projected the City of Toronto’s population age 65+ will increase by 84% by 2041, and the number of disabled residents will sharply rise with it. Toronto will fall further behind if it does not build a significant number of accessible housing stock so residents can safely age in place.
Many disabled tenants in our city whose names are on accessible unit wait lists, wait well over 10 years to be offered an accessible unit in both the public and private rental market. Toronto’s Housing Secretariat admits it does not currently have a reliable estimate of the number of accessible units in its portfolio of over 60,000 units, nor how many of these units are occupied by people with actual disabilities.
In Ontario
At the provincial level, approximately 2.6 million Ontarians are estimated to have a disability, and its seniors’ population– estimated at 2.8 million in 2022 – is projected to increase to 4.4 million in 2046. While Ontario’s Third Action Plan under the National Housing Strategy (2025-2028) now has accessible housing goals included, its targets are far below what is realistically needed.
It is also worth noting that the province of Ontario’s building code only requires that new housing be “visitable,” not accessible enough that a disabled person needing an accessible unit can live there.
Across Canada
In 2022, 34% percent of disabled people in Canada were reported to live in households with core housing need. This means that their housing is either inadequate, unsuitable, or unaffordable, and this includes accessibility. Most disabled people across the country pay market rent, which is largely unaffordable to many, mainly due to disability poverty and an inadequate supply of non-market housing. A telling stat that underscores this housing crisis: only 5.4% of renters with disabilities in Canada live in subsidized housing.
Neither Ontario’s More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022, nor Canada’s National Housing Strategy (NHS) prioritize the building of accessible housing stock at the scale urgently needed.
These laws, guidelines and housing programs have been repeatedly criticized for contravening the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Ontario Human Rights Code, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
TTC Inaccessibility and Unaffordability.
Over halfway through 2025, the TTC is still not fully accessible, even though the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) compliance deadline for a fully accessible transit system was January 1, 2025. Exacerbating widespread transit accessibility barriers, Wheel-Trans (WT) began reassessing its approved riders in 2017 which resulted in many disabled customers being denied door-to-door Wheel-Trans service and instead, assigned WT users to TTC’s Family of Service (FOS) Programs. This means riders have to navigate conventional platforms (e.g. subway, streetcar, TTC bus) for part of their trip despite the fact that the conventional TTC is still largely inaccessible and unaffordable for most people with disabilities.
TTC Wheel-Trans has since announced that it undertook its re-assessment process to meet its AODA obligations and not as a strategy for reducing operating costs. However, its own internal documents reveal that its re-assessment plan had a target of cutting its existing ridership by half. This amounts to several thousand Wheel-Trans users at risk of losing access with many disabled customers reporting being forced to navigate subways, streetcars and buses on some of their trips, despite not feeling safe or routes being inaccessible.
Recommendations from disabled transit equity advocates:
- TTC must reverse 2023 service cuts to its conventional system- especially since Wheel-Trans riders are being forced onto it.
- TTC must fund the Fair Fare Pass discount for low-wage workers and further expand free transit to more people receiving ODSP and OW.
Recommendations that are Wheel-Trans Specific:
- Pause the new rollout of TTC Wheel-Trans’ Family of Service Program requiring many current disabled customers to travel on TTC’s conventional system, with its far less accessible subways, buses and streetcars.
- Conduct a new adequate community consultation process that is inclusive of Toronto’s cross-disability and equity-seeking populations (including low vision, Deaf, neurodiverse, Mad, etc.) and circulate the findings widely.
- Revamp the reassessment process using an equity lens so that it is more transparent and accountable.
The GTADC continues to engage in collective advocacy to protect Wheel-Trans service from cuts. We are an active partner working with TTCriders and other organizations who are contributing to the development of the WT + FOS Equity Analysis.
