BC Welfare a Tangled Safety Net

Since the 1990’s, life has become harder for individuals and families on welfare in any province. The BC Government, under Gordon Campbell, made sweeping changes of its own welfare system in 2002, despite the notable decline in the number of people in that province receiving welfare since 1995.

The BC Government under Gordon Campbell proudly announced what a good job they did by drastically reducing its welfare rolls. However, studies since conducted found that tighter eligibility rules, delays in acquiring benefits and increased barriers to applicants were the reason why the rolls were cut, as opposed to such people joining the “rapidly growing economy”.

One study in particular by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives tracked welfare recipients deemed by the BC government as “expected to work” over the two year period between 2004 and 2006. They were tracked, interviewed from time to time until the final interview, comparing their status at the beginning of the study with their status at the end. This is a particularly difficult type of study to conduct as people on welfare are forced to live on such low incomes they often lose contact because they lose essentials such as phones. Others move several times, while others lose their housing altogether.

In the summer of 2004, 62 participants were selected from Victoria, Vancouver and Kelowna. All subjects were deemed as fully employable by the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance. Some were single, others had families. These subjects were tracked until the summer of 2006, whereby only 45 people completed the study. Of the 17 participants who “left” the study, two were known to be homeless and could not be located, four participants moved out of town or province, one participant started school, another had her children removed by children’s aid and could not be found, one became homeless and then accessed subsidized housing, two others declined to participate in the final interview, and another died.

Of those tracked to the end of the study … almost half were on assistance throughout the two years, a quarter left assistance “voluntarily”, seven people spent time both on and off assistance through the study and were back on assistance at the final interview and four were cut off altogether. Throughout the study, thirty-nine percent of participants spent at least some time “without a fixed address”. Almost half moved at least once in the final 6 months of the study (with one quarter moving at least three times).

Twelve participants did leave welfare, eleven of which left welfare for jobs. Those who left assistance for jobs generally were in more stable housing and better health. However, among those unable to find work, more than two-thirds pointed out “too many health/social problems”, “lack of skills/training”, “employers discriminate against them” and many have since been re-categorized as temporarily or permanently disabled.

For those remaining on assistance, most face significant barriers to employment. Less than half have phones. Eighty-four percent had difficulty with transportation, most of whom traveled by foot, one-third by bus and ten percent by bike. Almost all of them felt their income was not enough to meet basic expenses. In terms of how people “made ends meet”, forty percent relied on food from drop-in centres, a quarter relied on food from food banks, eighteen percent collected returnable bottles and cans, eighteen percent admitted to working “under the table” or partaking in illegal activities and ten percent relied on borrowing money.

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