1. Apply for OW if ODSP denied your application

If you need money for food and housing while you wait for the Social Benefits Tribunal to decide about your appeal, you can apply for assistance from Ontario Works (OW).

You must qualify financially to get assistance from OW. This means that you must need financial assistance so that you have enough money to live on.

Information about income and assets

To qualify financially for OW, your income can't be more than a certain amount. That amount depends on the number of people in your household and the cost of your housing.

OW looks at your assets because your assets can't be worth more than a certain amount. This amount also depends on the number of people in your household.

If you’re appealing a decision refusing you ODSP income support

The Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) has its own rules about qualifying financially. Because you've applied for income support from ODSP, OW uses the ODSP rules about assets when they decide if you qualify.

ODSP rules about assets are not as strict as OW rules. This means that ODSP rules allow you to have assets worth more than what the OW rules allow.

But OW can use the ODSP asset rules only once in your lifetime.

So, if OW has used the ODSP asset rules to give you financial assistance before, they can't do it again. They will have to use the OW asset rules to decide if you qualify financially.