Ontario welfare system encourages living alone despite affordable-housing shortage, study finds
But the reductions are so severe that they typically exceed the financial advantages of living under one roof, according to a recent study by John Stapleton, a consultant and retired social assistance benefits designer for the Ontario government.
The result is a powerful incentive for welfare recipients to live on their own, a form of forced loneliness that can take a toll on mental health and may also be unnecessarily inflating the demand for affordable rentals, Mr. Stapleton argues.
“We have a housing crisis, and we have these people who are incentivized to live separately,” he said.
