Direct Funding is a program of grants for persons with disabilities established under the
Ministry of Community and Social Services Act (CSSA). The program is intended to
offer people with physical disabilities the opportunity to achieve greater independence
by providing funding to allow individuals to hire and manage their own attendant
services.^24 The Direct Funding program is administered by the Centre for Independent
Living in Toronto (CILT) in partnership with the Ontario Network of Independent Living
Centres (ONILC). The main challenge of the program is limited funding, which means
that new applicants face long waiting lists both when qualifying for funding and to
actually receive funding.
The requirements of the Direct Funding Program are more onerous than the
requirements to qualify for other attendant services or personal support services.
Applicants must be able to direct their own care, locate employees, hire and fire
employees, manage work schedules and keep accurate financial and other records and
accounts. Accepting Direct Funding means that a person becomes an employer and
must therefore take on the various legal and administrative obligations related to being
an employer, and adhering to legal obligations under the Employment Standards Act,
Income Tax Act, Ontario Human Rights Code as well as other relevant legislation
including the Occupational health and Safety Act. Direct Funding rules do not allow
recipients to hire members of their immediate family.
Information about applying for Direct Funding can be obtained by contacting a local
Independent Living Centre for information.^25 Direct Funding has its own application
process which is outlined in Appendix 1 to this paper.
(^24) Section 11 of the CSSA gives authority to the Minister of Community and Social Services to make a
grant to an agency that, in turn, transfers the grant to a person with a disability to assist that person in
obtaining “goods and services that they require as a result of that disability”. Section 2(1) of Regulation
367/94 under the CSSA recites that the power given to the Minister of Community and Social Services
was transf 25 erred to the Minister of Health by Order in Council number 1309/94 dated May 18, 1994.
Centre for Independent Living in Toronto (CILT): Direct Funding Hotline (CILT) (telephone: 1-800-354-
9959).