March 24, 2004
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The
2004 provincial budget is resulting in people on welfare having to
continue to live below a minimal standard of living. With no real
increases in social assistance rates in this year’s budget, 30,000
households on social assistance in Alberta must continue to experience
increasing depths of poverty. (Budget documents show only a $15 million
increase this year in the entire Alberta Human Resources and Employment
department budget. The increases will go toward "anticipated growth in
program caseloads and health benefit costs.")
Our
analysis shows that people on welfare in Alberta do not receive income
that is reflective of our current cost of living. Social assistance
income (plus federal benefits/credits) provides a low of 40 percent to
a maximum of 80 percent of what it costs to buy the basics in Alberta
today. (See attached backgrounder for details.)
Using
the new low-income measurement tool introduced last year, the Market
Basket Measure (MBM), and adjusting for inflation, a family of four –
two adults and two children – living in Edmonton today would need
$25,669 (after taxes, child-care and out of pocket medical expenses) to
pay for basic necessities. A single person would need $12,834.
There
is a significant disparity between these minimal costs of living and
what people actually receive in government assistance (provincial and
federal). A family of four where the parents are not expected to work
receives $21,216 in annual government assistance, amounting to 82% of
the MBM. A single individual who is expected to work receives income
support of $5,040 per year, a mere 39% of the MBM.
Of
course there are budgetary consequences if social assistance rates were
raised to match the cost of living. We estimate it would mean a $130
million increase in the income support portion of the Alberta Human
Resources and Employment budget (2003-04 it was $268 million); that’s
about a 50 percent increase (or 12 to 16 percent per year if phased in
over three years). Seen another way it represents just a six percent
increase in government spending on all social services.
"Admittedly
this would require a significant increase," says Nicola Fairbrother,
Executive Director of the ESPC, "but it’s driven solely by the reality
faced by many Albertans, and having welfare rates tied to an objective
cost-of-living measure does give government a realistic target." "Not
acting now to address this inequity," says Fairbrother, "means we
threaten the future health and prospects of a generation of individuals
and children since they must then continue to attempt to survive on
less than an acceptable standard of living."
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Thursday, 17 May 2012 
The ESPC is a member of the Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness (ECOHH). ECOHH sent out a three question survey related to housing security to each political party competing in the 2012 Alberta election. So far, the Progressive Conservatives (PC), the New Democratic Party (NDP), and the Alberta Party responded to ECOHH's questions. Below are their respective answers.
