Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction |

The Future is Now: A Case for Punctuated EI Change

October 7, 2021

Our policy submission to ESDC “Reforming Canada’s Employment Insurance Program” Consultation has gone in. “Even in advanced economies, the payroll-based insurance model is increasingly challenged by working arrangements outside standard...

COVID-19 and Income Security

May 20, 2021

Over the last year, the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction has been working with the Departments of Labour Studies and Political Science at McMaster University to explore the impact of...

Frozen in Time! Ontario’s Social Assistance Rates

April 15, 2021

On Monday, April 13th, community activists, academics and social assistance recipients gathered virtually to discuss how to put income security advocacy back on the policy agenda. You can view the...

Action Priorities

A local Basic Income Network

At Basic Income Hamilton, we are raising awareness, educating and engaging Hamiltonians about the concept of basic income. Building support for and commitment to the implementation of a national basic income program for Canadians. Want to know more about what is going on locally around Basic Income. Learn more and see how you can be involved.

A Basic Income in Hamilton

In spring, 2017, the Government of Ontario announced Hamilton and two other Ontario communities would participate in a 3 year pilot project to test the idea of a basic income. There's now a national and international focus on Hamilton as a result of the pilot project

Basic Income Voices

There was once an idea that interested people; if you gave people autonomy and enough money you could shape their health and well-being. But was it true? They took the idea and created an experiment called the Ontario Basic Income Pilot. 4000 households. 4 cities. 6000 lives. Then it was cancelled. The stories you will read here are not fictional. They belong to real people. This is their lives. On basic income and off.

Reforming social assistance in Ontario

People living on provincial social assistance experience the deepest poverty in society. Rates are inadequate to meet even basic needs such as housing, food or warmth. It's time to provide opportunity and restore dignity for all those who rely on social assistance. Everybody deserves a future!

The Right to Housing

Gentrification and rising property values are leading to skyrocketing rents in Hamilton. Families are being priced out of their homes and displaced by large property management companies that often hike rents in multi-residential apartment buildings.

Accessing Financial Supports

New financial benefits such as the Canada Child Care Benefit, the working income tax credit and the seniors' guaranteed income supplement could provide hundreds of dollars a month in additional income for low-income families in Hamilton, but nearly 7,000 families don't file taxes and lose out on more than $40 million in financial assistance that could help reduce poverty.

Ending Predatory Payday Lending

Payday Loans appeal to people who fall into a financial emergency and need quick cash to pay a bill or put food in the table, but borrowing can quickly cascade into deep debt. Outlets in Hamilton often locate in lower-income neighbourhoods and use misleading advertising to hide high interest rates. At least 16,000 Hamiltonians borrow about $50 million worth of payday loans annually.

Living Wage Hamilton

In Hamilton 29,335 people work but don't earn enough at their jobs to move out of poverty. Precarious work, irregular scheduling, short-term contracts and lack of access to health, dental and prescription drug benefits all contribute to a cycle of working poverty for too many working people in our city.

Speakers Bureau

The purpose of the Speakers’ Bureau is to empower individuals by giving voice to their lived experience with poverty and social exclusion. The concept’s origins stem from the Shifting Attitudes work group of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction; founded to combat pervasive negative stereotypes and promote educated dialogue around the community implications and costs of poverty and social exclusion. Participants will be available for speaking engagements to promote acceptance of community diversity and enhance awareness of local poverty issues through the telling of their personal stories. Speaker Profiles Isabella is a proud Hamiltonian, by way of Montreal and then Burlington