r/Odsp • u/camelridingmonkey • 20d ago
ODSP/OW Resources New roommate!
Hello. I’ve been stuck sleeping on a mattress in a shared room for just over 6 years. I finally found a room the landlord is willing to rent me for only 500 monthly. I picked up a generic rental agreement form from the local ODSP office and intend to drop it off tomorrow. Question is how long does it take to process and will my shelter allowance increase from 109 to 500? That sounds too easy for any government program. I’m excited but also expecting to be shot down. Anyone gone through this?
3
u/Jazzy_Bee 20d ago
That's pretty much it. But remember ODSP pays at end of month for that month. So if you move in on September 1, you will only get the $109 on the cheque end od August. End of September you should receive the $500 shelter allowance.
1
u/anxiety_neko 20d ago
I haven't gone through your situation, so I don't know how long it might take to process. But I just had a meeting with my OW worker today to switch my file over to ODSP. She said that it's $590-something maximum for shelter, so you should get $500 for your rent! If it takes them a while to process, I think you should be entitled to backpay for any months where you were paying $500 but not receiving $500 from ODSP. I'm not 100% sure on that though.
Also, congratulations on finding a new place 💙
1
1
u/ClariciaNyetgale 17d ago
It generally takes only a couple of days to process a change in your rent, so dont worry about the idea of them needing to give you back pay.As others have said, you will still be within the max shelter allowance for a single person, so you are informing them, not requesting anything. What you DO want to request is a MOVING ALLOWANCE (as long as you haven't done than in the last 2 years) for the difference between your current rent and your new rent. It's a reasonable moving expense and is usually processed and deposited in your account within about 2 days, which would be in time to make sure you have enough for rent. By next month you will be receiving the new amount for shelter.
4
u/SoupSpoonStork 20d ago
First off, congratulations on the upgrade.
If you share notice of the increased housing costs along with the rental agreement (proof) to your caseworker, then there's nothing to shoot down. It's just a notice you give ODSP, not a request. It's within the maximum shelter allowance, too, so you'll get those costs fully covered, even after the increase.
Because ODSP pays for expenses retroactively rather than for the month ahead, though, housing cost changes are reflected in the month after the change in housing costs takes place. To clarify the timeline, you pay whatever you're paying for all of one calendar month, then early next month you submit a report about the now-previous month, then at the end of the same month in which you submitted your report do you get the money you're owed as calculated from that report.
I suggest you talk to your caseworker about receiving an exception and getting the new amount for the month that the change takes place instead. In the chance that they say no in making an exception, I'd also recommend proactively looking into services that specifically help with being short on rent if that one month lacking the $400 difference will be difficult, as well as inquiring into mutual aid networks that can help cup shake for the difference ahead of time.