Some good news for the poor residents of Ontario, as yesterday Premier Dalton McGuinty announced that the provincial sum set aside for child benefit available for low-income families will nearly double to $1,100 a year beginning this July.

This might come as pleasing news to the anti-poverty advocates who had kept a close watch on the performance of the Liberals, to find out if they could deliver even in that face of a projected $18 billion deficit over two years.

McGuinty told a news conference, at the Cabbagetown Youth Centre, that the Liberals had plans of increasing the monthly child benefit by 2011 as part of their anti-poverty reduction strategy, but due to the economic meltdown they had to accelerate the payout in order to help families stay afloat.

Yesterday McGuinty also announced a provincial investment of $620 million to match federal funds to renovate 50,000 social housing units and build 4,500 new affordable housing units.

"The increase to the child benefit to $92 a month will be a real help to families in this time of economic downturn." said Jacquie Maund, a spokesperson for the 25 in 5 Network for poverty reduction - a coalition of organizations committed to fighting poverty.

"We are also encouraged to see the government is stepping up to the plate in terms of money for affordable housing - a pressing need for families," she said.