By Kendall Worth
The background to this story are the recent Tim Houston budget cuts, as reported on in this post, and a recent post, on Guaranteed income. Nova Scotia is not even looking at a Basic Guaranteed Income. For years I have reported on (going back to my time on the NS Advocate) the fact that Nova Scotia, especially in Halifax, has a large visible population of people living in poverty. A livable basic income is one solution.
On a separate issue, as reported in this blog, what scares the disability community in N.S. is that, Barbara Adams, the Minister of Opportunities and Social Development, is talking about how funding, which has been going directly to Disability Service Providers, in the future is going to be attached to the clients, instead of the Service Provider. She has provided no clarification on what this means! As far as I know, during this recent sitting of the Nova Scotia legislature, no opposition MLA questioned Barbara Adams about this, in the house. With everything that is happening politically and economically, we can all agree that these are very scary times for Nova Scotians.
I have actually spoken to several first voice about their concerns. I am specifically reporting on two people and their lives (as usual, not using their real names) – reporting on the responses of two people – we will call Mia and Florence.
Mia is an income assistance recipient who receives the $1022 Standard Household Rate. Then she receives the $324.00 Disability Supplement. Then she receives a $300.00 Rental Subsidy. She also Receives the $40.00 Telephone allowance and receives $81.00 for 3 special diets. Adding up all of these Figures, she receives $1731.00 per month. This amount may sound like a lot of money, but after bills and rent are paid – it is not.
Mia’s Budget Breakdown:
$1000 a month for rent (and already her landlord has warned her to expect a $400.00 increase in her rent once the rent cap in lifted in 2027. After $1000 goes to her rent, she only has $731.00 left for everything-else.
Then her Cell phone Bill per month is $79.00. After The $40.00 Telephone Allowance gets paid on that amount, She has to pay another $39.00 out of the remainder of her allowance for her cell phone bill. So with Subtracting the full $79.00 from that remaining $731.00 she has $652.00 left.
Then the $81.00 for her 3 special Diets, spent directly on her special diet needs = having $571.00 Leftover.
Within the remaining $571.00 she has left, it cost her $25.00 for a once a month cab ride to get her Groceries home. There are no major grocery stores within walking distance from her home. After that $25.00 cab ride, she has $546.00 for her essentials, for supplies and food for her pet cat. She needs her cat for therapeutic purposes.
Mia tells me that she has issues being in big crowds and on days when she goes to places like Souls Harbour or Hope Cottage, if she cannot find a place to sit by-herself which is most of the time, she has to talk to volunteers about arranging to get her meals for take out., because, as part of her mental health issues, she has trust issues with the thought of sitting at a table with 4 strangers at a soup kitchen table. She tells me she successfully lives day to day, most days, and only relies on going to soup kitchens one to two weeks per month. She eats at home on days she can do so. Mia is worried about having to depend more on soup kitchens in the future, she worries she is not going to be able to handle the crowds caused by longer line-ups due to people loosing their jobs.
As mentioned, a second, First Voice, social assistance recipient, gave me permission to call her Florence, (as usual not her real name) and write about her situation.
So it turns out that Mia and Florence both have their own reasons to worry about the future. Again these are just 2 examples of out of many who are and will be affected.
Florence’s life on Income Assistance includes having people in her family who stigmatize people who are on Income Assistance which I have written plenty about – see here. During our conversation Florence talked about how she has a few family members, who already lost their jobs due to the Huston Budget cuts, and other family members who have recently been notified of job loss in the near future.
Florence experienced one of those stigmatizing family members, who are losing their job, (and, who she has not spoken to in years) getting in-touch with her just to lecture her on the fact they are not going to be messing around in looking for there next Job and told her she should have been doing the same all of these years she has been on Income Assistance. What Florence’s family has been doing to her lately is exactly the kind of thing I described here. Florence, would not give me a break down of her expenses, but she did disclose she gets the $1022 Standard house hold rate, she gets a Rental Subsidy she would not disclose how much, and she disclosed she has next to nothing left after rent and bills are paid, and after essentials are purchased.
The 2 I had just named, and many other First Voice I have spoken to recently, all agree that there are many reasons to be concerned these days. First Voice are asking how are people losing their job via Houston cuts, going to find that next job, when the economy and unemployment rates, are the way it is these days?) Many agree with me that state of our present economy is going to play a strong part in the what the future will look like. Given expected job losses, there is continuing concern from First Voice about the cohabitation policy of the Houston Gov’t re: Income assistance. First Voice continue to call for that policy to be changed. First Voice, who I spoke with, are expressing concern around how many who are affected by these cuts, being people who are married and have families. Once their Employment Insurance runs out and they have to go on Income Assistance, the already broken system is going to be even worse for them. The Standard Household Rate for those who are married with Children is $1,497 a month. We also have to remember that rising grocery prices, are impacting how we live and manage financially these days.
I will end this article by saying there is lots to think about these days. In addition, The Disability Community is demanding answers from Minister Barbra Adams. What is she talking about when she said, moving forward funding will be attached to the client. I will write about this in a separate BLOG post.
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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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