[SteelTown]

Province increases funding for kids
Canadian Press
3/20/2009

Ontario will speed up a big increase in the child benefit for low income families, bumping up the implementation date by two years to July 1.

The parents of about 1.3 million kids are eligible for the child benefit, which will jump from $600 a year to a maximum of $1,100 per child.

Families earning less than $20,000 would qualify for the entire amount, while there is a sliding scale for others depending on the number of children.

Parents with one child could earn up to $33,750 and still qualify for a portion of the child benefit, while a family with three kids can earn up to $61,250 and be eligible for a partial payment.

Premier Dalton McGuinty says Ontario will also kick in its $600-million share of a federal-provincial social housing program.

The $1.2 billion announced in the federal budget will pay to renovate 50,000 social housing units and build 4,500 new affordable housing units.