By Kendall Worth
I am wring this BLOG post on February 14th 2026, thinking about how I have written time and time again about Cohabitation. My reporting on cohabitation, includes looking at how section 6.1.8 of the Employment Support and Income Assistance Policy Manual penalizes two people, who might otherwise, live together in a romantic relationship. With the current Income Assistance rate, for a couple (common law or married) at $1442.00, they are loosing $602.00 a month from their Income Assistance Cheque, compared to two people living “separately”. For more on my past reporting on Valentines Day See this post,
I also want to point out that I recently had a conversation with an income assistance recipient, in my community, who told me: “ if it was not for my boyfriend, as part of my life, I would not have any visitors who come over to my apartment, to visit with me. In this post, I report on how sometimes I overlook a few factors -- For example:
Kendall, what about the income assistance recipients whose family members don’t treat them with any stigma about being on income assistance.
What about those income assistance recipients who are connected to Churches?
What about these Income Assistance Recipients who volunteer in their community?
Then in this post I clarify that there is no evidence to prove my estimate that 80% of Income Assistance live socially isolated lives and the 20% lucky Income Assistance Recipients have social contacts, creating some social stability. Income Assistance Recipients within the 80%, estimate, are not limited to Income Assistance Recipients who are single.
Something-else I want to be clear on regarding the 80% estimate (80% of Income Assistance live socially isolated lives and the 20% lucky Income Assistance Recipients have family or friends or both) is the fact that, when I look at the financially-better-off-community and I am going to use this post to prove my point -- that people in the better-off-financially-community do not seem to understand the situation of those on Income Assistance and say things like: “Those of us who have jobs or financial security do not go frequently to restaurants or the movies or a bar? For most of us, these are occasional and special treats, not regular occurrences” Anyway the point I am trying to prove is that of my 80% estimate, most live alone, and have no friends, whereas those who have work and more money, can have: .
Friends who they can get-to-gather with For Coffee from time to time.
Friends who they can invite over to their apartments for a visit from time to time.
Friends who they can go for a walk or a movie with
All of the above are the types of the friends that in my estimation 80% of income assistance recipients do not have. Unlike people living in poverty, the financially-better-off do not have to feel a desire to go to restaurants etc. every night because they live regularly experiencing relationships with people. Also, many in the financially-better-off-community, return home from work, at their end of their days, to a spouse and kids, and that is why they have Social Stability in their personal lives.
In today’s post I was going to report on how Valentines Day is supposed to be a celebration of people caring about one another. But the policies of the The Employment Support and Income Assistance program through the Department Of Opportunities and Social Development does not encourage people to be social, and, in fact, policies, like 6.8.1 actually encourage the opposite – that social isolation is OK and what you deserve if you rely on provincial support. In this post, I make a case, that policies that treat social isolation as OK, need to change.
How can people living in poverty, on Valentines Day, show a loving and caring attitude for one another when their resources are limited and the penalties for cohabitation -- severe. The ESIA program does not care that cohabitation confers an advantage on mental health and well being. On Valentines Day, single people, on Income Assistance , look out that window admiring how members of the financially-better-off -community can live life with the freedom to pursue romantic relationships and celebrate the meaning of Valentines. There is also case that can be made, that being in a romantic relationships can also improve our social stability. What I just said however may not be true in every case, when someone is in a relationship, but one benefit is that maybe your partner's friends can become your friends if you have none.
What is the Solution?
Lets plan a social event or get-to-gather for 2027 for those who are alone on Valentines day, for people to feel like they have Social Stability on Valentines Day. Maybe organizing this could be done through a Social Prescription Program or A Social Prescribing Organization if such a thing already existed.
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Kendall Worth is an award-winning anti-poverty activist who lives with disabilities and tries to make ends meet on income assistance.
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