Who can apply for Emergency Assistance?

General Rule: To apply for emergency assistance, someone must:

• Not be a tourist or visitor
• Not have enough money, assets, or access to credit to meet their basic needs and to have shelter 
• Have made reasonable efforts to access other available sources of funding
• Not currently be receiving another form of social assistance (e.g., Ontario Works, ODSP, etc.)
  • Note: If your client is already receiving social assistance but is faced with an emergency, they might be able to get additional funding from their program through a discretionary benefit. Help them contact their caseworker to see if they are eligible for this.
• Not currently be serving a period of ineligibility
• Not received emergency assistance in the past 6 months. However, there are some exceptions to this requirement for women who are entering an interval/transition home for abused women and for refugee claimants waiting to hear if they are eligible for a referral to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.