Can I get OW if I live with another adult?

The Ontario Human Rights Commission has released their latest take on mandatory vaccines, passports and testing, here: http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/news_centre/ohrc-policy-statement-covid-19-vaccine-mandates-and-proof-vaccine-certificates. In light of this update, and the new directives that the Province released a few weeks ago, we are in the process of updating our covid testing content. Please re-visit the site to access the updated content when it is available.

Long delays for appeal hearings

If you’re appealing a decision made by OW or ODSP in 2020, your appeal hearing may not happen for a long time. People report that they’re getting hearing dates from the that are between 9 and 16 months in the future. We’ll update this information as things change.

If Ontario Works (OW) thinks you live with someone who is your spouse, neither one of you will be able to get as a single person or as a .

Instead, OW looks at the and that both of you have to decide if you can get assistance as a couple.

The amount of assistance you get as a couple is less than what you would get as two single people.

How much you get from OW depends on a number of things.

OW rules about couples

OW has rules that they use to decide whether 2 adults who live together are spouses.

If OW decides that the person you’re living with is your spouse, you can apply for assistance only as a couple.

If OW decides that the person you’re living with is your spouse, and you disagree, you may be able to appeal the decision.

If you apply for assistance as a couple, both of you have to sign all of the forms that are part of the application.

If you need help to decide whether to apply for financial assistance as a couple, contact a community legal clinic.

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