START: Saving to Achieve Real Transformation

START is an innovative pilot project that will help up to 500 low-income Ontarians living in social housing — or on the social housing waiting list – build personal assets.

 

The pilot, cited in the provincial Long Term Affordable Housing Strategy, is a joint venture between HSC and Social and Enterprise Development Innovations (SEDI) taking place in Windsor, North Bay and Ottawa over the next two years.

 

 

How it Works

START: Saving to Achieve Real Transformation is based on successful individual development account programs in the United States and the United Kingdom, where financial literacy training coupled with goal-oriented, sustained saving have enabled those with low-incomes to improve their social and financial well-being.

 

Participants in START will receive case management supports and financial literacy training in addition to a financial incentive for saving. Their savings over the next two years will be matched at a rate of 3:1. The matched money from the project will go directly towards their chosen savings goal, which might include:
 

• Housing affordable home ownership, first and last month’s rent,
• Education – post-secondary education for adults, translation and assessment of foreign credentials, supports to learning, or
• Entrepreneurship – small business start-up and cost of tools for employment.

 
 

Qualifications

To qualify for START, participants must:

• Be living in co-op, non-profit or social housing or on the waitlist for social housing;
• Have lived in Canada for at least two years;
• Have a total family income below $48,000 per year (depending on household size and only one person per household can participate)
• Be between 16 and 65 years old; and
• Not be in school full time;

 

 

Status

• Community partners and housing stakeholders in Windsor, North Bay and Ottawa are engaged
• Training to agencies administering START in November 2011; participants begin saving shortly thereafter
• Pilot program concludes December 2013

 
For more information on START, please contact us.