New benefit increase in B.C. will not provide money to all who need it: critics

Disabled people living in B.C. say the provincial government's move to increase the shelter rate, for those on income and disability assistance, will do little to lift people out of poverty.

The $125 increase to the monthly shelter rate — which is one portion of the overall income and disability assistance payments — was one of the flagship spending measures announced in the provincial budget released this week.

It's the first increase to the shelter rate since 2007. Previously, the maximum shelter allowance for a single person was $375. 

Starting in July, that number will be increased to $500 on monthly benefits cheques, with the amount increasing based on the number of people in the person's family.

However, the payment — exclusively meant to help with a person's housing costs — will not apply to people who live in subsidized housing where rent is geared to income, and does not include everyone who is below the poverty line in B.C.

Critics also say that the payment top-up is paltry given the increasingly unaffordable housing situation in the province, and low-income people will have to pull from their other benefits to continue to afford to live.

"At a time of deep poverty that we live in [and] multiple overlapping crises occurring, this is a very cynical political choice," said Gabrielle Peters, a disabled writer and policy analyst who lives in Vancouver.

A government spokesperson confirmed that only those who have "shelter costs that are more than their current shelter rate" will see an increase in monthly payments.

Peters says this would largely apply to those who pay steep market rates for their housing, for whom a $125 increase will not cover the cost of rent.

"The choice is, essentially, to appear to be doing something to alleviate poverty and finding a way to assist the fewest people possible," she said.

"If that wasn't their deliberate intent, that is certainly the outcome."

Province claims 160,000 people to benefit

Peters says the policy change does not take into account how many poor and disabled people live in subsidized housing in the province.

A 2017 Statistics Canada dataset showed that disabled people in Canada live in subsidized housing at higher rates than the general population.

One of them is Oriana Kapusta, a disabled person who receives provincial disability assistance every month.

The increase in shelter rates will not benefit her, according to Kapusta, who says she continues to deal with other expenses amid spiking inflation.

"Even though I live in subsidized housing, I still don't have enough to live on, when you consider I have ongoing medical expenses that are not covered," she said.

"Affording technology like phones and computers is next to impossible for most, but you are expected to have them to communicate with the ministry."

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Poverty Reduction said the shelter rate increase would benefit almost 160,000 people, including 33,000 children.

However, more than 224,000 people received income and disability benefits as of January, according to the province. The spokesperson said they could not confirm how many people already living in the B.C. Housing system would benefit from the increase.

"This is the fourth increase to income and disability assistance since 2017," the spokesperson said. "This increase is targeted to support those who are most affected by today's rising cost pressures from global inflation."

B.C. Housing, the Crown corporation responsible for non-profit housing in the province, said in a statement that they were working with their tenants to gauge the impact of the rate increase.

Calls for universal benefits

Kapusta said the government should do away with the current benefit system — where applicants have to apply for targeted benefits based on their circumstances, doled out in monthly cheques — and institute a universal benefit instead.

Other advocates have called for universal increases to the basic assistance rate tied to the inflation rate. The ministry spokesperson did not directly answer when asked whether the government plans to increase basic assistance rates further.

"It costs money to be a disabled person in an ableist society," Peters said. "They [the B.C. NDP government] did some very, minor, modest, minimal raise in rates.

"But they have not engaged in any way with the very community of which their support came from … it's been disheartening, disillusioning for many."