Class 3: Poverty & Legal Health

1. Who's impacted by poverty?

Poverty is prevalent in Ontario and not always apparent. Approximately 10% of Ontarians live in poverty. Marginalized groups experience disproportionately higher levels of poverty. About 30% of food bank users are children.

2. What are some of the health impacts of poverty?

Living in poverty plays an outsize role when it comes to health outcomes. Poverty increases the risk for chronic disease, depression, and some cancers. Children in low income families are at higher risk of low birth weights, mental health problems, asthma, malnutrition, injuries and hospitalization. A report by Statistics Canada found that income inequality is associated with the premature deaths of 40,000 Canadians a year.

3. What are some of the legal impacts of poverty?

Poverty impacts legal health as much as physical and mental health. There are more opportunities for interaction with the law if you are living in poverty because our systems are set up to make it so. Some examples:

• People living in poverty are more likely to rely on government social assistance programs as their main source of income. Ontario’s social assistance programs come with close to700 rules to follow. Breaking those rules means losing all or part of their income. And that income isn't very much to start with. A single person on Ontario Works only gets $733 a month (as of May 2023).
• People living in poverty are more likely be stuck in precarious and/or unsafe work.
• People living in poverty are more likely to be stuck renting substandard, poorly maintained, or overcrowded housing, or to be homeless.
• People living in poverty have less access to traditional financial resources like bank loans or lines of credit. This leaves them with no choice but to borrow from predatory lenders or payday loan companies.

4. What you can do (Action Step)

Screen all patients for poverty. The Centre for Effective Practice recommends asking everyone the question "do you ever have difficulty making ends meet at the end of the month?".

Intervene, educate, and support patients to file their income tax, and to access tax and other government benefits that may increase their income.

Finally, remember that Ontario has free community legal clinics that can help people living on a low income with a range of legal problems related to income, housing, work, and debt. Prescribe legal help when appropriate, and make referrals to legal clinics.