Ontario United Ways make recommendations to the Ontario Government that will substantially reduce poverty across the province through financial stability, safe, accessible and affordable homes, and access to critical community services that help people thrive.
As the Government of Ontario develops its 2025-2030 Poverty Reduction Strategy, it is a time for bold leadership. With rising costs and growing economic uncertainty, reducing poverty is not only a social imperative, but also essential to sustaining a strong workforce, supporting local economies and securing the province’s long-term economic growth and prosperity.
While the 2020–2025 Poverty Reduction Strategy made progress in connecting people to employment, rising economic pressures are driving poverty rates higher. Poverty in Ontario has increased since 2019 and is rising faster than the national average. In 2023, 1.9 million Ontarians lived below the poverty line, unable to afford the necessities for a dignified life. This was up from 1.1 million in 2020. Since 2020, the number of children in poverty in Ontario has more than doubled.
A 2025-2030 Poverty Reduction Strategy – with transparent, measurable goals for reducing poverty and deep poverty, coupled with supporting indicators for housing, food insecurity, access to services, employment stability, equity of outcomes, and more – presents a critical opportunity to address the conditions that both pull people into poverty and keep them there, while strengthening the province’s social and economic infrastructure.
The Government of Ontario can meaningfully alleviate poverty and build the social and economic infrastructure needed for the future prosperity of the province by:
- Laying the groundwork for financial security, good jobs and strong local economies
- Getting people housed and keeping them housed by expanding non-market affordable housing, investing in supportive housing, and strengthening renter and tenant protections
- Ensuring the sustainability of Ontario’s community services infrastructure to continue delivering the critical services that meet the unique needs of communities across the province
Endorsing United Ways
United Way Bruce Grey
United Way Centraide North East Ontario
United Way Centraide Simcoe Muskoka
United Way/Centraide Stormont-Dundas & Glengarry
United Way Centraide Windsor-Essex
Chatham-Kent
United Way Haliburton Kawartha Lakes
United way Durham Region
United Way East Ontario
United Way Greater Toronto
United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin
United Way of Haldimand and Norfolk
United Way Halton & Hamilton
United Way Hastings & Prince Edward
United Way Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox &
Addington
United Way Leeds & Grenville
United Way London Middlesex
United Way Oxford
United Way Niagara
United Way Northumberland
United Way Perth Huron
United Way Peterborough & District
United Way Sault Ste. Marie & Algoma District
United Way of Thunder Bay
United Way Waterloo Region Communities
Our public policy and mobilization in action
September 02, 2025
Ontario United Ways Make Joint Submission to the Build Canada Homes Design
Ontario United Ways make recommendations to the federal government’s Build Canada Homes design to help realize the full potential of Canada’s community housing sector to build the homes Canadians need.
August 12, 2025
Non-Profit and Co-op Homes: The Way for Ontario to Build Its Way Out of the Housing Crisis
“Built for Good” shows how targeted investment in non-market housing can deliver thousands of deeply affordable homes, preserve existing stock, and ease pressure on public systems — all while creating jobs and economic opportunity
January 31, 2024
Provincial Budget 2024: Ontario United Ways are calling for investment in the non-profit sector to deliver a full range of housing options
As the Government of Ontario outlines its budget priorities for the coming year, Ontario United Ways are calling for investment in, and engagement of, the non-profit sector to deliver the full range of housing options, particularly the affordable and deeply affordable homes, so desperately needed in this province.