4. Answer the questions about financial factors
Beware of scams
People have been getting phone calls with a pre-recorded message telling them their Ontario Works account has been deleted.
This is a scam to trick you into sharing your personal information. If you get a call like that, hang up the phone. You can report these calls to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.
Question & Answer
Can I get OW if I live with another adult?Make sure you first read Steps 1 to 3.
The questions that Ontario Works (OW) asks in Part 2 of the Questionnaire (for Applicants or Recipients who are living with another adult) are about financial factors.
Questions in Part 2 of the Questionnaire
To find out if one of you supports the other or if the two of you are what OW calls “financially interdependent”, Part 2 has questions like:
- Do you own things together?
- Do you have joint bank accounts?
- Has one of you ever included the other in a benefit plan at work or an insurance policy?
- Have you borrowed money as a couple or has one of you co-signed a loan for the other?
- Are both of your names on leases or on bills for utilities and cable or telephone services?
- Has one of you named the other as a spouse or on an income tax return?
Sharing housing
You might have a reason to live with another person who is not your spouse.
For example, you might not be able to afford the cost of living on your own. If this is why you share housing, it's important to keep your finances separate, for example, your bank accounts and any bills that you pay. This will help show OW that the person you share housing with is not your spouse.
Or, you might get help from the person you live with because you have a disability. This could include helping you with your finances. For example, you might have a joint bank account with them because dealing with the bank is difficult for you.
OW is supposed to look at the reasons you share housing when they decide if you're a couple.
After you answer Part 2 of the Questionnaire
If your answers to Part 2 of the Questionnaire do not show that you have a financial relationship like that of a married couple, OW should not go on to Part 3 of the Questionnaire.
But if OW thinks that your answers suggest that your financial relationship is like that of a married couple, you'll have to answer questions in Part 3.
Step 5 talks about these questions, which are about whether you're living together as a couple.
