Basic Income Should Have Been Available Before Now.

 By – Kendall Worth!

I would like to start this BLOG post by asking you, readers, to take a few minutes to look back at the past 5 years or so. We have seen the homeless population increase to an insane level – 2023 count near 1000 people in Halifax and nearly 200+ living rough/ in tents. These days you even hear more and more about working people becoming homeless and to others this is sad. The $2000 a month that unemployed working people received from CERB during it’s short lived time made a world of difference. Now the unemployed and people living in poverty are in dire financial straights…. But what if all of these homeless people had $2000 a month as a basic income?

 

Angus Reid Inst. June 2020

 

Answer – they would have money to find a place to live. (Although it would remain very difficult without sharing, as the the average rent for an available 1-bedroom apartment in Halifax, is $1,950, as of August 2023. This is a 26% increase compared to the previous year.)

Taking a moment here to go back to this BLOG post I cover an event in which an un-housed income assistance recipient asked: “How are we suppose to find somewhere to live, when Community Services is not giving us money to find an apartment?”

These days all the tents we see set up around Halifax is evidence enough to demonstrate that homelessness is more visible then ever. One source from my community points out a program they tried in BC, and suggested this could Benefit Nova Scotia. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/new-leaf-project-results-1.5752714

After all with a livable basic income they would have money for an apartment, if the province and/or federal government would invest heavily in non-market, sustainably affordable, apartments.

The major increase in the homeless population is the most major reason for a much needed rush to get a Basic Income for all. But there is more to be said about why a Basic Livable Income needs to become available soon.  

Tents are seen in Halifax's Victoria Park on May 3, 2023. (Bruce Frisko/CTV Atlantic) https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/questions-raised-about-halifax-park-encampment-1.6382498

Some members of the financially better off community brought to my attention that one reason as to why they notice the Inflation/meaning the increase in grocery bills when they shop is because they put their groceries on their credit cards and they just pay their credit card bills every month and don’t notice the increase in cost. For people on Income Assistance Paying Monthly or paying with a Credit Card is not an option.

These days food/grocery store inflation is especially bad. Grocery Bills have become more expensive for consumers. Out of the N.S. income assistance standard household rate of $950 a month (for those who are disabled or have one dependent child) and especially after rent and bills are paid, it does not meet the cost of living anymore. If you do not have a disability or a child, you receive even less.

People in my community are saying that these very low Income Assistance rates are causing a lot more anxiety than usual. Anxiety is increasing because the cost of living today,  makes things more difficult than it used to be. If Basic Income was available within the past 5 years or so, it would have made a world of difference.