By Ian Austin,  The Province

June 4, 2009

New figures from Statistics Canada show that B.C. leads the nation in child poverty for the sixth year in a row.

The StatsCan figures show that 13 per cent of B.C. residents under 18 live in poverty — the highest percentage in Canada and well above the national child-poverty average of 9.5 per cent.

On the plus side, the just-released 2007 numbers — the latest available — represent a drop from 2006, when the B.C. rate was 16.5 per cent and the national rate was 11.4 per cent.

“There was some good news in 2007 — the rate was coming down — but B.C. had the highest child-poverty rate for the sixth year in a row,” said Adrienne Montani, principal co-ordinator for First Call, the B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition.

Montani’s biggest worry was the statistic for single-mother families.

In B.C., 37.4 per cent of children in those families were living in poverty, compared with a national average of 26.6 per cent.

“That’s more than one in three,” said Montani. “There seems to be denial here — the government simply says, ‘The best answer to poverty is a job.’”

Steve Kerstetter of the First Call co-ordinating committee said child poverty is a very complex issue.

“There is no magic bullet when you talk about poverty,” he said. “We have too many people working at low-wage jobs. Too many people who are working part of the year, not the whole year, and too many people working part-time.”

Kerstetter said B.C. is a magnet for new immigrants, making the child-poverty issue worse here.

First Call is asking for a minimum 25-per-cent reduction in the child poverty rate by 2012, and a minimum 50 per cent by 2017.

NDP leader Carole James said the statistics show B.C. didn’t act when the times were good, and the problem will only get worse under today’s economic downturn.

“It’s a warning sign, and I’m concerned about what that’s going to mean for child poverty and families in need now,” said James. “I think the root causes are the minimum wage, housing, and child care.”

iaustin@theprovince.com

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FIRST CALL’S SUGGESTIONS TO ADDRESS CHILD POVERTY

- Raise the minimum wage from $10 to $10.76 per hour immediately, with annual increases pegged to increases in the cost of living.

- Abolish the $6 per hour training wage.

- Make the federal government provide universal access to high-quality, accessible child care.

© Copyright (c) The Province

By Matthew Hoekstra - Richmond Review

Published: April 22, 2009 11:00 AM  

A women’s shelter and up to 170 units of subsidized housing, some supporting those with mental health issues and addictions, have been rejected by B.C. Housing in a city-led proposal.

In early March, city council endorsed a proposed memorandum of understanding with the province’s subsidized housing agency to build three projects in City Centre, according to city spokesperson Ted Townsend. The city was prepared to buy property for a 10-bed emergency shelter for women and children and assist in developing 50 to 70 units of supportive housing for women and children on city land near the No. 2 Road Bridge. 

It was also prepared to ante up land at Granville Avenue and Anderson Road for 80 to 100 units of housing for homeless people and those at risk of becoming homeless. The project would have also supported those with mental health and addiction issues.

Nelson Bennett /Richmond News
Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Try living in a bank account.

That appears to be the City of Richmond’s strategy when it comes to affordable housing, says David Reay, co-chair of the Richmond Poverty Response Committee: collect money from developers for affordable housing that has yet to be built.

“We have a whole bunch of money in a fund,” Reay said of the $10.1 million the city has collected from developers over the years for low-cost housing. “But you can’t live in a fund.”

A recession has done little to reduce housing prices in places like Richmond, say affordable housing advocates, who took part in a demonstration Saturday to call attention to poverty issues. Richmond’s Grand March for Housing Saturday drew an estimated 55 people, Reay said. Mayor Malcolm Brodie insists Richmond is a leader when it comes to affordable housing.

“There’s always more that we can do,” Brodie said. “We are working with the development community and others to expand the affordable housing. There are limits to everything, but we want to work with other partners on the various projects.”

In the last two or three years, the city has legalized secondary suites, and adopted an affordable housing strategy that encourages developers building above a certain number of units to include five per cent social, or affordable, housing units. It also hired a housing coordinator to implement the plan.

To protect existing rental stock, the city put a moratorium on the demolition of older rental apartments, with a requirement that they be replaced on a one-to-one basis.

Brodie also points out that, when it was putting together the sale of city-owned land adjacent to the Olympic Oval, it “hived off” a half acre of land off No. 2 Road, to be set aside for affordable housing. A city-owned parcel of land on Granville Street and No. 3 Road has also been earmarked for some form of social housing.

But so far, Reay said the city cannot point to any completed low-cost housing projects, with the exception of the Austin Harris seniors housing project in Steveston.

Reay agrees that Richmond is a municipal leader when it comes to the developer contributions it now requires for affordable housing. But so far, it hasn’t produced anything. The problem, he said, is that the city’s housing plan is too developer-focused.

“They figure a development levy system is the answer to everything,” Reay said.

So far, the developer levy has simply accumulated in a bank account. Reay said a number of community groups have shown an interest in taking on low-cost housing projects, but have been stymied with cost and red tape.

“They need to be a lot more cooperative in things like development cost charges, parking and design regulations,” Reay said. “Some of those things are killing projects right from the outset.”

Richmond isn’t the only city struggling with high housing costs. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson recently floated a proposal to encourage developers to build purpose-built rental accommodation, which is in short supply throughout the Lower Mainland. Under the plan, the city would offer tax breaks and other incentives, like lower development cost charges and relaxed parking requirements.

Reay isn’t so sure that a similar incentive plan in Richmond would necessarily translate into affordable rental accommodation. Since it would be new, it might still be out of the reach of those who struggle to pay their rent here.

Although he acknowledges a need for more low-cost housing in Richmond, Coun. Greg Halsey-Brandt is challenging the Richmond Poverty Response Committee’s assertion that Richmond has the second-highest rate of children living in poverty in B.C.

“There’s just no way this computes,” he said. Halsey-Brandt said what is needed is a national housing plan like the one that encouraged purpose built rental housing to be built between 1977 and 1981.

In a declaration read at city hall Saturday, the Poverty Response Committee and Affordable Housing Task force called on Ottawa to set up a permanent national housing program. It also called on the provincial government to work with municipalities to build affordable housing for people at all income levels.

© Richmond News 2009

It’s been a year since Richmond citizens kicked off a silent street corner protest

Alan Campbell, Richmond News

Published: Friday, March 20, 2009

Have you seen them? Perhaps given them a wave, a honk on your horn or maybe even a two-fingered salute?

You know — that little huddle of activists, lobbying every Saturday afternoon between 1 and 2 p.m. on the corner of Minoru Boulevard and Granville Avenue.

For almost a year now, the members of Richmond’s Poverty Response Committee have been, quite literally, making a ’stand for housing’ and resolutely loitering, without intent, at the busy intersection.

So, what’s their beef? Affordable housing for everyone in the city, that’s what.

Aside from one month last summer and the worst snowstorm to hit the city for decades, they’ve been out there at the same time and at the same spot, waving their ‘homes for all’ banners in support of affordable housing in the city.

“During the winter, I think we maybe missed one Saturday because of the heavy storm,” said David Reay, of the Poverty Response Committee, who also ran for city council in the last civic election.

“But we had people out there over Christmas, and we’ve always had at least three people, but usually nearer six.

“When you look at people and their priorities these days, what could be a bigger priority than having a roof over your head?”

Reay explained that he first came up with the idea, along with the committee’s Roz Johns and Deneane Quamme, after learning of a similar peaceful demonstration in the Little Mountain district of Vancouver last year.

“We started last spring after seeing what was happening at Little Mountain,” Reay said. “A building was being leveled and all these people were going to be homeless. They came up with this idea to do a continual protest. So, we thought we should do the same, but in Richmond. We don’t advocate or blame anyone. We just want to develop a political will.”

Reaction from the general public to their mini crusade has been wide and varied and, at times, colourful, according to Reay.

“Some passers-by stop and ask some questions about what we’re doing,” he said.

“We have some very animated conversations with people, some are very positive and supportive. But some people don’t understand the issue.”

On Saturday, April 4, the group will mark their first year anniversary by holding the Richmond leg of a province-wide affordable-housing march. It will leave the Minoru Pavilion parking lot at 1 p.m., before winding the short journey to city hall.

March 10, 2009 (Vancouver)
A new study reveals that BC’s poor and middle class families are in worse financial shape than their parents’ generation. The study, released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, finds that fully 60% of families with children are earning less than their counterparts in the late 1970s, while incomes for the wealthiest 10% have increased dramatically. The result is a widening gap between the rich and the rest of the population.

Among the study’s key findings:

• Between 1976 and 2006, real earnings (before taxes and transfers) decreased for the bottom 60% of BC families with children — the worst performance in Canada along with Newfoundland.
• The poorest 10% (or decile) were hit hardest, with earnings falling by 74%. However, even the sixth decile saw their annual earnings fall from $70,000 on average in 1976 to $65,000 in 2006.
• After-tax income also dropped for the bottom 60% of BC families, unlike in any other province, where stronger tax and transfer systems helped compensate for the loss in earnings.

The income gap has widened to the point that the top 10 per cent of BC families now earn more than the entire bottom half of families.

The study focused on families with children under 18: these families make up nearly half of the population, and are the main factor in determining the success of the next generation.

“Many recent studies and media reports have focused on the worsening situation for poor people in BC, and economists have warned that this could deteriorate even further in the recession,” says report author Iglika Ivanova. “But our study shows that the middle class is vulnerable too—and much more so than in the rest of Canada.”

“These findings point to a disturbing growth of inequality in this province,” Ivanova says, “and they help explain why even during our recent economic boom, many people have found it hard to get ahead. This study shows us that economic growth does not automatically translate into higher incomes for most people, especially for those at the lower end of the scale.”

“We can’t blame these figures on the current recession,” she says. “The most recent year for which data is available is 2006, when the BC economy was still thriving.”

The study, BC’s Growing Gap: Family Income Inequality 1976-2006, outlines concrete policy recommendations for reversing the trend of increasing income inequality and protecting British Columbians from the most severe impacts of the recession. Measures include making the tax and transfer system fairer, expanding public services and social programs for all citizens, adopting a comprehensive poverty reduction plan and improving conditions for low-wage workers. The study analyzed custom data supplied by Statistics Canada.

BC’s Growing Gap: Family Income Inequality 1976-2006, is available on the CCPA’s website, www.policyalternatives.ca. Author: Iglika Ivanova, economist and Public Interest Researcher, CCPA. For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Sarah Leavitt at 604-801-5121, x233.
Download the Report/Study:
BC’s Growing Gap: Family Income Inequality, 1976-2006 - PDF File, 1014 Kb
BC’s Growing Gap: Family Income Inequality, 1976-2006, SUMMARY - PDF File, 338 Kb