The June 2nd issue of The Globe and Mail contained an article about the Ontario Government’s plans to limit access to subsidized housing for those receiving student loans. (Webmaven's Note: there was also an article on this topic in the July 2000 HotFlash Newsletter.) The government considers receipt of both student loans (or welfare) and subsidized housing as “benefit stacking” or “double dipping”. Essentially, this “social-housing-reform legislation” would prevent students collecting OSAP from moving into subsidized housing. What impacts could this potential legislation have on low-income single mothers wanting to earn a diploma or degree?

First of all, Ontario Student Assistance Plan (OSAP) and Canada Student Loan (CSL) are not handouts, they are loans that require repayment plus interest like any other. The government already regards student loans as income when calculating childcare subsidies, and the same logic is expected to steer subsidized housing assessments. Taking into account the nonexistent universal childcare program and the proposed restriction of access to subsidized housing, how is a single mother supposed to get an education and escape the poverty she is relentlessly blamed for living in?

As a single mother of three, with two kids still at home, Kim continues to work on her Master’s thesis at Lakehead University. An OSAP recipient, who presently lives in subsidized housing, she says she began attending university “when Ontario was a much kinder place.” Kim believes that Mike Harris hates women and the Harris government doesn’t want single mothers in school or on welfare when they could be forced into minimum-wage job ghettos instead. This way, the government has an even larger, readily-available pool of cheap labourers. In addition, she finds the continuous ‘nitpicky’ changes within OSAP do not benefit the student, but rather “act as a deterrent” for students in an increasingly “elitist system”.

While subsidized housing is crucial for the survival of Kim’s family as long as she remains a student, she disagrees with the construction of row housing that turns neighbourhoods into ghettos, which are not the most wonderful places to raise children. As an alternative, she thinks that money would be better spent if existing houses across Thunder Bay were bought for use as subsidized housing.

To be a low-income single mother attending school, especially full-time, means constantly worrying about a host of interrelated issues surrounding the children (childcare, child support/access, illness, extra-curricular activities, social problems, ‘quality time’ ), subsidized housing (size, location, cost, rent increases), food, transportation, and school (attendance, group work, finding time and solitude to write papers). Like many other women, Kim “didn’t plan this life” and as much as she tries to make positive changes for herself and her children, the government continues to make procuring those changes onerous tasks. Regardless, she clutches her knowledge tightly and avows that despite the problems, “university has been a wonderful experience.”

Sacha, who just entered her first year of Engineering at Lakehead University, is a young single mother of a very energetic two-year-old. Worried about legislation that punishes poor, single mothers, she is currently on a waiting list for both subsidized housing and subsidized childcare. While she would have preferred to attend school only part-time, she had to have a 60% course load (four classes/semester, in her program) to qualify for what proves to be inadequate funding. At the same time, she can only afford childcare for three days per week (even with a reasonably-priced provider), which she feels compromises the education she struggles to pay for. Going to school and working would leave her without much time to spend with her son.
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