Lets Call her Janet...

 By – Kendall Worth

Janet is a single mom who is currently 41 years old, and lives in a 2 bedroom apartment with her son, who is still in high school. She receives the $962.00 a month allowance, the standard rate for an adult with one child. She also receives the $40.00 a month Special Needs Telephone Allowance. = $1002.00 a month.

Her rent is $800 a month… and it was scary when her landlord warned her that once the rent cap is lifted in 2025 he is planning to raise her rent to $1000.00 a month. She does not currently receive a rental subsidy. The father of her child is not involved in her son’s life which is not a surprise to me because many first voice women, I talk to, who are single moms, tell me the Dad’s are not involved but never want to talk about reasons why.

Sometimes stories of Income Assistance recipients comes with a life history where they have had a professional job and never dreamed they would ever become dependent on a system like the Employment Support and Income Assistance Program in Nova Scotia, and to be receiving Income Assistance.

While interviewing Janet I had learned she has is a registered massage therapist and worked in a clinic for 15 years of her life -- from age 21 till 36. She had to stop working because she got into a car accident. She was on EI for a period of time, then went on Income Assistance. A year ago her doctor said that she was sufficiently recovered and gave her approval to return to work part time, or full time if position involved mostly sitting. Being a massage therapist is not a sit down job. If she was to return to this work she could only handle one client a day.

Once her EI ran out and she started receiving Income Assistance she found that living first on the $850.00 then $950.00 standard house hold rate was a big adjustment. Sadly, she was never able to get her son’s father to pay any child support to help her out with her son. If her sons father was paying child support that would have helped a lot, especially, after the child support claw-backs from Income Assistance stopped as of August 2018.

Janet also told me about the shift she noted, transitioning from working to Income Assistance, with respect to stigma. After she started having less money to live on, people she had been friends with, eventually ended their friendships with her. Her relationship with family members went downhill because they were so judgmental, once she started to receive Income Assistance. Friends and family members came to the conclusion that she is on income assistance because she does not want to work. Her father even threatened to report her to Child Protection Services because she was not spending her days out looking for work. Her father outright accused her of not setting a good example for her son. She told me “I may be an income assistance recipient, however, I am also a responsible mom.”

So, I asked Janet: does you son have a good understanding of why you are unemployed?

Janet answered this question by saying “Well he keeps an open an open mind about what I explained to him about my accident, and he looks forward to the day that he will someday be working himself.”

Lets Hope for better days for Janet!

Because they have in common the change from good job and income to Income Assistance, Janet’s story reminded me of the story of another woman, who I once interviewed for the Nova Scotia Advocate.

Julie, who I talked about in the story also lived a life where she had a good income (netting $1400/mo) and received bonuses , through her work in a jewellery store. Now she is living on only $950.00 a month. Note – When I interviewed Julie who this story linked above is about then the Income Assistance Rate was $850.00 a month. Still $1400.00 - $950.00 = $450.00 less a month to live on.

By the way – I want to let the readers know that since I thought about Julie’s story  while interviewing Janet, I recently got in touch with her, to see how she is doing these days. Julie gave me permission, to let my blog readers know that she is living day-to-day life volunteering in a Nursing Home where her father is a resident. She is currently in talks with the nursing home management about her taking a paid position.