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Ontario to replace Disaster Relief Assistance Program in 2016


August 20, 2015   by Canadian Underwriter


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The Ontario government plans to replace its Disaster Relief Assistance Program next year with two new programs, one of which is intended to help homeowners replace essential property lost as a result of a natural disaster and not covered by insurance.

The Ontario government plans to replace the Disaster Relief Assistance Program with two separate programs in 2016

The province plans to launch Municipal Disaster Recovery Assistance and Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians in early 2016, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing stated Aug. 17 in a press release.

“Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians is not a substitute for adequate insurance coverage and will not provide full cost recovery,” a spokesperson for the Municipal Affairs and Housing department wrote Wednesday in an e-mail to Canadian Underwriter. “The program is intended to help people impacted by natural disasters get back on their feet. Like the existing Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program, when the program is activated after a natural disaster it will provide assistance for essentials only.”

Those essentials would include “necessary repairs to make homes safe and habitable, basic furnishings and appliances, and emergency costs.”

Claimants to Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians would “be required to seek reimbursement through their insurer first.”

That program, MAH stated, would provide assistance to individuals, small businesses, farmers and not-for-profit organizations “who have experienced damage to, or loss of, essential property as a result of a natural disaster.”

Detailed eligibility information – including the definition of a small business – “will be made available prior to the launch of the program in early 2016.” Businesses must have 100 or fewer employees in order to be eligible under the current Disaster Relief Assistance Program.

The other program that the provincial government plans to launch in early 2016 is the Municipal Disaster Recovery Assistance program. That is intended to help “municipalities address extraordinary emergency response costs and damage to essential property or infrastructure like bridges, roads and public buildings, as a result of a natural disaster.”

No budget has been set for either program because “costs vary significantly from year to year,” the MAH spokesperson wrote.

Municipal electrical utilities would not be eligible for funding under the Municipal Disaster Recovery Assistance, he added.

Related: Burlington, Ontario flood damage estimated at $90 million

“A process is available through the Ontario Energy Board for local electricity distribution companies – whether they are owned by municipalities or not – to manage costs arising from extraordinary events including natural disasters.”

The Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians program “will be activated in the event a natural disaster, such as a flood, hits a community and causes widespread damage to essential property,” the MAH spokesperson wrote. “The need to activate the program will be considered on a case by case basis. “

When the program is activated, he added, “it will help homeowners with funds to repair damage and replace essential property that is not covered by insurance.”

Both programs will “do away with the current requirement for municipal volunteers to fundraise for matching provincial assistance,” MAH stated in its Aug. 17 press release.

Currently, under the Disaster Relief Assistance Program, municipalities have 14 working days to request that the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing declare their area a disaster area.

The Municipal Disaster Recovery Assistance program would give municipalities four months to assess costs and request provincial assistance.

For farmers, eligible costs under the current Disaster Relief Assistance Program include livestock that could not be insured, crops already harvested and in storage, crops not covered by crop insurance and restoring farmland to workable condition and evacuation costs, among others. Eligible costs for businesses include replacement of damaged inventory at cost, structural damage to primary building, cleanup of debris caused by flood damage so that a business may re-open, among others.

PHOTO:  Goderich, Ontario on Aug. 22, 2011 after a tornado caused heavy damage in the town. Photo by Frank Gunn, The Canadian Press.


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