By Kendall Worth!
Was it/Is it a hoax? Income Assistance recipients want to know. Many income assistance recipients were skeptical right from the day it was announced in 2013. I first began reporting on the Employment Support and Income Assistance (ESIA) transformation, at that time, as I write here, and I invite you all to think about it.
Since 2013:
We yet saw very few positive changes in our system. There have been some, for example, the standard household rate came into an effect and income assistance went up from $810.00 to $950.00 a month, and Child support payments for single parents, stopped getting clawed back from Income Assistance.
But on a more Negative note, as I pointed out here in October 2015, the rigid rules for qualifying for special diet allowances did not change. People on income assistance who lost special diets allowances back in 2011, 2012 and 2013 expected those allowances to be reinstated under transformation, but it did not happen.
We have been watching a major increase in homelessness in Nova Scotia major that began when the Liberal Government were still in power. The Liberal government then, did not even incorporate solutions for the homeless population into the transformation. This article marks the beginning of the time when the noticeable homeless population in Halifax started increasing.
Then in Summer 2021 the Progressive Conservatives got elected. Even though this post shows evidence from hearsay that the so-called ESIA transformation is still happening, since I wrote this open letter to Trevor Boudreau I have received no response. As pointed out in this BLOG post , during last two sittings of Province House I could not even get an opposition MLA to raise a question about ESIA Transformation, asking for an update from the Minister.
In fact, The PC’s ignored the unfinished business of Transformation since they got elected in 2021.
Income Assistance Recipients, who I have spoken to recently, and who have been hanging on for ten years have now lost hope completely that the system is ever going to improve. One major thing that Income Assistance recipients were hoping to get out of Transformation is less dependence on charity as pointed out in this article. This did not happen. In fact, we are seeing longer line-ups at food-banks and soup kitchens, these days. This is an example of something, that, according to community members, would not be happening if the transformation resulted in something better then it actually did.
Then, as this article points out we have seen evidence all along, during this so-called ESIA transformation that government officials did not listen to first-voice advocates. In fact it was after this article got posted that myself and others began to notice the Benefits Reform Action Group going down hill. But I have been recently been asked “what is the use of getting Benefits Reform Action Group up and running again, now, when we are now figuring out that this whole ESIA Transformation was just a HOAX?
Tim Houston, if transformation is not a hoax, then please ask your Minster of Community Services to make an announcement to update us, during this upcoming sitting.
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