While many people in BC struggle to find affordable housing and try to keep up with the cost of living, Brent Frain says he and other people with disabilities are falling further behind.
Frain was born with a visual impairment and is legally blind. He added he also has a learning disability. The 55-year-old lives in Victoria in a one-bedroom space with a roommate. However, he sleeps on a futon while the roommate uses the bedroom.
After earning $1,515 from the government to support his disability, he said, “I pay almost 50% of my income on rent alone,” adding, “It really doesn’t leave a lot left over.”
Because of mandatory tenant insurance his landlord demands, Frain said his living costs are increasing soon as well.
“I struggle each month just to pay for the basic essentials, like the cost of living, for toiletries, bills, to buy food.”
I’m struggling on below-poverty disability support. Looking for help with toiletries & groceries. Any help greatly appreciated.
Thank you! ❤️🙏[email protected]https://t.co/tETGTXeInmhttps://t.co/5Si9aa6aeU
— Brent (Weatherman) (@Weatherman2709) November 28, 2024
Frain said the cost of living in Victoria has been higher than when he lived in Langley. Apart from higher costs, he said there are fewer stores to help him shop for low-cost items.
“I have to travel a lot further to go to the Superstore, which is almost an hour by bus ride out to Langford from Victoria,” he said.
The Provincial Legislature in Victoria (meunierd/Shutterstock)
With the money left after rent, he said he usually can’t budget for clothing, savings or other needs to support his disability.
“I have to try to save up for optical because the government will only buy glasses with very basic frames and lenses every three years,” he said. “So I have to save up money for transitional lenses.”
“Voices are not being heard”
This year’s BC Budget 2024 did not include an increase in Income and Disability Assistance.
Disability Alliance BC earlier in the year said it had fears locals living on disability assistance would see their income spread thin.
“We strongly recommend that assistance rates are safeguarded through a change in legislation that allows for scheduled rate increases so that people living on PWD [Persons with Disabilities] and IA [Income Assistance] are not dependent on the whims of budget announcements,” it said.
“I say missed opportunity, where voices are not being heard,” Frain added.
Frain actively tries to provide suggestions to the province and pleads with the government to tie disability assistance to the cost of living.
“Ontario has done it, and I’m sure BC could do the same thing,” he said.
Ontario’s disability support program is adjusted yearly based on inflation.
According to the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction BC, it has made five increases to income and disability assistance rates since 2017, “increasing rates at twice the rate of inflation – the largest by any government in BC history.”
“The current maximum disability assistance rate for a single individual is $1,483.50 per month, among the highest in Canada. Beginning with payments issued in July 2023, disability assistance rates were increased by $125 per month,” the ministry said in an email statement. “Disability assistance includes a support allowance (maximum $983.50 per month) and a shelter allowance (maximum $500 per month). Both the support and shelter allowance may be used towards housing costs.”
People who receive disability assistance can also access supplementary assistance for specific needs like a bus pass or medical and dental coverage, the ministry added.
Crisis supplements are also available for emergency situations.
“Clients on disability assistance are also able to earn up to $16,200 per year without any impact on their disability payments. Earnings exemptions have been increased three times since 2017, most recently in January 2024,” the ministry added.
“There’s more work to do and the Province won’t stop working to help make life better for people and families.”
Housing troubles
While there was an increase in the shelter rate from $375 per month to $500 per month in last year’s budget, Frain said, “But you can’t rent anywhere.”
“For $500 you have to use your support portion to basically rent somewhere,” he explained. “But the caveat on that is there’s a lot of landlords throughout BC now are requiring people, even without disabilities or with disabilities, to have no less than 50% to 60% of their income to show … to rent somewhere.”
Considering the number of barriers people without disabilities are already facing, Frain said it’s clear the lack of additional support to assist people with disabilities is discriminatory.
People who get a shelter allowance from BC can qualify for subsidized housing through BC Housing buildings.
“For example, under the Building BC: Community Housing Fund program, 20% of units are set aside for residents with very low incomes, such as those receiving income or disability assistance,” the email reads.
However, finding subsidized housing in the first place is a long, tedious process, as many people wait on long wait lists, Frain said.
“If you’re a single person, you could probably get on a waiting list, but you have to be fleeing violence or being homeless or on the urge of being homeless in order to get into decent housing,” Frain added.
“But if you just want cheaper rents, you can’t get into [this type of] BC housing just to have cheaper rents. So I think that what I’d like to see is that program extended.”
On the other hand, when he was on the verge of being homeless. Frain said that, of course, came with its own set of roadblocks as landlords did not like it when he and others paid rent with the support portion funding from the government.
Brent Frain
Single people left behind
Recently, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Living Wage BC reported that Metro Vancouver’s living wage rose 5.3% this year, climbing from $25.68 per hour to $27.05 per hour for two full-time parents supporting a family of four in Metro Vancouver.
However, experts like Anastasia French, the provincial manager of Living Wage BC, said the group that needs to be focused on the most is single people, both those without kids and those with kids, since the living wage is even higher.
The report even mentioned that working-aged adults without children have become the largest group of people who live in poverty in Canada and BC.
The living wage for a single person without children is $27.36, which is about 30 cents higher than for a family of four.
So while kids are really expensive, families with kids get a lot more government benefits, said Anastasia French, the provincial manager of Living Wage BC.
Seeing this report, Frain said he was saddened. As a single person and a person with a disability, he said he felt as if he was “always left behind.”
“It’s like, always the last topic for [government] to discuss and find solutions … to raise them about that income floor,” he said.