SOUND

Raise the Rates is a campaign to

• increase minimum wage, disability and welfare benefits across BC
• support people to work, and
• resolve the barriers to accessing welfare that leave thousands homeless

Recent months saw over 4,000 signatures submitted in a request to the current provincial government to implement specific changes.

Happily, there has been some success! On February 20, increases to welfare and disability were announced. For example, for a single person expected to work, the support portion is increased by $50, while up to $50 is additionally available for “shelter”.

Although any increase is a good one, there’s still a long ways to go, for the following reasons:

1. The $610 per month maximum is still far from enough to cover rent, utilities, phone, food, transportation, personal care, dental, medications not covered by MSP, etc.

2. Half of the increase for a person in the “expected to work” category is specified for “shelter”. There are two issues here.

(a) Under welfare rules, a person receives only the amount they pay
to someone else, up to the maximum shelter rate. For example, if I
am able to share accommodation so that my shelter costs only $325, I
am not eligible for this $50 “increase”. If I negotiate a work
exchange, so that my shelter costs only $100, my cheque is simply
reduced by $275. I benefit from this “increase” only if my rent is
already over and above the $325 welfare previously allowed.

(b) Some landlords have already opted to increase rents to access
the new rate. While a landlord has every right to recoup his costs
and even profit, a raise to landlords must not be confused with a
raise to welfare recipients.

Ideally, welfare would provide a monthly amount to people in need, and allow that person to budget it as his own needs demand. This way, a person in receipt of $610/month might locate a shared apartment for, say, $250 and almost have enough for all other necessities. (See #1.)

3. No earnings exemption for “employables” has yet been instituted. This is probably the biggest key to benefiting both welfare recipients and employers alike. When a person has only $610 per month for rent, utilities, food, transportation, personal care, medications not covered by MSP, dental, etc, she cannot afford to add the expenses of: additional transportation, dress clothes, meals sufficient to fuel her for work, and a home restful enough to recharge her for another 8-hour shift.

In Kamloops, employers are desperate for workers. People receiving welfare are desperate for jobs. An earnings exemption, allowing a welfare recipient to keep some of her earnings, would offset the cost of employment, re-engage her with the workforce, and satisfy employer needs.

Action: To help achieve this win-win across BC, ask your MLA to provide an earnings exemption to all people receiving welfare. Copy the letter to Claude Richmond, Minister of Employment & Income Assistance and Jagrup Brar, Opposition Critic for Employment and Income Assistance.

Article by Save Money Kamloops
March 2006, SOUND Kamloops