B.C.’s poorest families will be hit hardest by rising cost of living

This story is part of a series of briefs highlighting affordability issues in 2020, and appeared in print in the January issue of Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine.

B.C.’s poorest families will continue to fall behind in 2020. So far, the provincial government has made no announcement to increase amounts for monthly regular income assistance or persons with disabilities assistance (PWD), despite projections that the cost of living will continue to rise.

Unlike B.C.’s working poor, families on provincial assistance continue to disqualify for government rent subsidies such as BC Housing’s Rental Assistance Program. Based on a working single parent with two children earning $1,600 per month, equal to the average amount a single parent on PWD receives, the employed parent is eligible for approximately $440 per month through the RAP. In B.C., provincial assistance is divided into two categories: support and rent. A single parent on PWD with two children is eligible for $949 in support and $660 for rent. The rent amount has not increased in more than a decade.

Further compounding financial hardships for single parent families on PWD is the provincial government clawback of federally funded programs such as the Canada Pension Plan Disability allowance. This means if a single parent on disability is eligible for a CPP-D pension of $1,000 per month, their monthly PWD would be reduced by exactly the same amount. Other programs the provincial government claws back from include CPP retirement, WorkSafe BC benefits, survivor benefits and other insurance programs.

Single parent working families also continue to face financial hardship, despite eligibility for programs such as the RAP. On May 1, 2019 The Living Wage for Families Campaign released its living wage calculations — the amount needed to pay for basic necessities including food, clothing, rent, childcare, transportation and a small savings to cover emergencies. Those calculations are based on a two-parent family, with both adults working full time. In Revelstoke the living wage for 2019 was set at $18.90 per hour.