Written for Daily Hive Urbanized by Spencer van Vloten, a community advocate and nationally published writer from Vancouver.
Over half a million British Columbians, roughly the population of Vancouver, are poor.
I recently spoke with three of them.
Nicole’s been living in a run-down motel with her young children for the last few months. It’s all the single mother from Kamloops can afford on $1,400 a month of disability assistance.
The motel’s cold in all senses of the word: the temperature, the pale grey walls, even the neighbours, whose shouting matches keep her up every night.
She barely has enough to afford diapers, let alone presents for the kids this year – and she’s not alone.
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While costs of living have increased dramatically, disability and income assistance rates have fallen far below the poverty line in what the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition’s Rowan Burdge calls “legislated and enforced poverty.”
The housing allowance for people on social assistance has also remained a measly $375 for the last 15 years, despite BC’s average rent doubling to $2,200 in the same period—making us the province with the highest rate of unaffordable housing.
The result is that poor British Columbians are falling deeper into poverty.
“Get a job,” some might say—well, Lee Down has one.
The 58-year-old from New Westminster’s a peer support worker, guiding people through their mental health struggles.
But Lee has struggles of his own.
Already driven out of Vancouver by its unaffordability, he only has a few hundred dollars to get through the month after making rent on his New Westminster apartment.
Unsurprisingly, his margins are tight.
He eats one meal a day to save what he can, and, to cut back on soap and laundry costs, showers and changes of underwear are once-a-week occurrences.
It may sound extreme, but that’s life in poverty.
What Lee needs is housing that doesn’t make such a dent in his finances, but good luck finding that in British Columbia.
He’s been on BC Housing’s applicant registry for seven years, although it feels more like an eternity.
His situation mirrors that of a growing number of older British Columbians. The number of seniors on BC Housing’s waitlist increased by 58% from 2012 to 2017, and then another 43% over the last five years.
Those 55 and older also now compose a quarter of Metro Vancouver’s homeless population, up from 9% in 2005.
A history of putting developers before community need, as well as prioritizing homeowners, has left BC’s affordable rental supply far behind the demand for it.
It’s people like Lee paying the price.
“It has been so overwhelming for so long. I’d love to find a new place, but who knows if I’ll survive long enough.”
Lucy Williams has been through it for even longer than Lee has.
A tiny woman with bright green eyes, the 77-year-old widow has been on the waitlist for subsidized housing for longer than she can remember.
She covers rent for her Vancouver apartment through assorted pensions and supplements but has nothing for the dental work she badly needs, leaving her unable to eat anything but pureed food.
Nor can she afford the prescription heart medications she needs that are uncovered by MSP, or the specialized eyeglasses she relies on to see anything within 10 feet.
Her life’s literally a blur.
Whatever flattering ideas the world has about Canadian healthcare, it’s a closed, cumbersome system if you don’t tick the right boxes or have money to pay privately.
What’s happening to British Columbians like Nicole, Lee, and Lucy reflects a wider issue.
More than half of Canadians are now struggling to pay their bills – up 10 points from 2015 – and 53% are within $200 of insolvency.
People are losing hope and growing frustrated. Last year saw hate incidents rise across the country, and more Canadians are venting by drawing lines and lashing out.
While global events have impacted life at home, a policymaking culture of complacency and baby-stepping has made things worse: issues take too long to solve, and big solutions are not offered to big problems.
What’s needed and needed quickly are major investments in sustainable food systems, fast-tracking of affordable childcare, increases to social assistance, and greater access to medication, healthcare, and mental health support for low-income persons.
Housing stands above all other priorities, however, and each level of government has a role to play.
City councils must use their zoning, land use, and procedural powers to support affordable housing.
Provincial and federal governments must increase subsidies for building affordable and accessible housing, as well as broaden eligibility for housing supplements available to low-income renters.
And there must be a foundational change in how policymakers work: it’s incumbent on our city councils, MLAs, and MPs to stop taking baby steps and act with the speed and boldness the need across the province requires.