Sunday, January 8, 2012

Welfare Fact Sheet-Ever Wonder How Much People Get On Welfare?

 UPDATE- SORRY- I had to deletE some links below, as they were old
These are the most recent. 

https://raisetherates.org/past-projects/mla-on-welfare/
https://raisetherates.org/

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Blog post by Tina Winterlik © 2011
http://tinawinterlik.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/#!/zipolita @zipolita
http://gplus.to/zipolita Google+

Ever wonder what a person on Welfare gets! Think it's easy to get Welfare or to live on Welfare...Think again. You may have heard about the MLA taking the Welfare Challenge

Check this out to get a better understanding of what it's really like.
Sorry had to remove old link

Many people are quick to judge or simply say "they made their choice" or "it's not my problem" but it is. It's everyone's problem. The children living in poverty are going to grow up with issues...the consequences of people living in poverty are obvious to many but many are obliviously to it. Please, PLEASE read this. EDUCATE and get informed about what the government has done and how things need to be changed. So many people are suffering unnecessarily.

We help people around the World, yet in our own backyard we deny people food and shelter. IT'S INSANE!! IT'S CRUEL! IT'S INHUMANE! Think about that. Please!

Here are a few Stats from the Welfare Fact Sheet

*The Average Rent in Vancouver for a 1 bedroom apartment is $1,045 which is nearly 3 times the $375 the government allows for shelter.

*Even the rent for most Single Room Occupancy shelter in the Downtown Eastside is $425 a month.


*Support Payments are No Support
The single person’s welfare payment for ‘Support’ is only $235. This is for everything apart from housing. So out of this money a person on welfare has to buy food, household supplies, personal care items, clothing, and the other costs of daily living. In addition they have to pay the costs of looking for work such as a phone or pay phone and transit. Of course totally out of the question is even a few dollars for some entertainment.

In reality, the typical rent for even the grim SROs, is more than the $375 a month the government allows, an extra $50 comes out of the $235. This only leaves $185 a month for all support costs.


*A Single Person on Welfare Cannot afford a Healthy Diet
If all of a man’s welfare went on food (so no clothes, no soap toothpaste or haircuts, no travel, not one cup of coffee or a glass of beer, no culture or entertainment) he’d still not have a healthy diet. A woman would have a few dollars left after eating.

*Single Parent Families cannot afford to Live or raise Healthy Children
A single parent family with a child receives $570 a month for shelter and $376 a month for support. In addition they, like almost all parents, receive child benefit payments from the Federal government including:
• Canada Child Tax Benefit which is made up of a Basic Benefit and National Child Benefit Supplement
• Universal Child Care Benefit

And from the BC government:
• Basic Family Bonus
The Canada Child Tax Basic Benefit is a non-taxable benefit of $113.92 per month for each child under 18 years of age. The National Child Benefit Supplement amounts are:
• $176.50 per month for the first child;
• $156.00 per month for the second child; and
• $148.50 per month for each additional child.
However there are conditions to these monies.

 Punishing Children
Children of a parent in receipt of welfare do get extended medical coverage but the development of a healthy child is about much more than covering the costs when they are ill. There is child care subsidy but it does not cover the real costs of childcare so a single parent actively looking for work – which they are required to do – has to subsidize good child care out of their meagre support money, such as spending even less on food. Once the child is 3 years old the parent faces having their welfare cut if they do not find a job or follow the government’s instructions to seek work.

For more info please check the  and Follow Jagrup's Blog - blog is gone sadly

The MLA Welfare Challenge
Can you Live on $610 a month?
Raise the Rates: www.raisetherates.org

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