Currently, under the Regulations, the prescribed asset limit for a single ODSP recipient is $40,000. [3] Many people with disabilities struggle to qualify or maintain eligibility for ODSP due to this restriction. Although the Regulations contain exemptions for certain classes of assets, they do not go far enough to ensure that people with disabilities can maintain a reasonable standard of living without having to sacrifice assets intended to support them well into the future.

Under prospective amendments to the Regulations, effective September 1, 2018, funds held in a Registered Retirement Saving Pan (“RRSP”) or Tax-Free Savings Account (“TFSA”) will no longer be included in the calculation of assets. This means that funds in an RRSP or TFSA will no longer result in the person’s automatic disqualification for income support. It should be noted that, given that RRSPs and TFSAs contain internal limits on the amounts that can be contributed per year, i.e., the “contribution room,” ODSP recipients will not be able to shelter an indeterminate amount of assets within these accounts.

The Budget proposes a complete elimination of cash and other liquid asset limits, to be effective at some point during the 2019-20 fiscal year. However, we will await the new government’s response to this proposal.