IN THIS ISSUE HOMELESSNESS AND POVERTY: How the Poor Survive

Transcription

1 IN THIS ISSUE HOMELESSNESS AND POVERTY: How the Poor Survive Duration: 12:12 It s not something we like to think about but we see it every day no matter where we live: People living on the streets. Now some cities are turning to social and supportive housing developments to deal with the homeless problem. One recently opened in Vancouver but it s not going over well in the community. Meanwhile, there s another level of poverty in Canada the working poor. These people have jobs that pay minimum wage yet they re barely getting by. Related News in Review Stories Helping the Mentally Ill Homeless (Nov 2007) Living as a Homeless Person (May 2007) Homeless in Canada (Nov 2002) Child Poverty: A Growing Disgrace (Feb 1994) Other related Curio.ca content CREDITS News in Review is produced by CBC NEWS and Curio.ca GUIDE Writer: Jennifer Watt Editor: Sean Dolan VIDEO Host: Michael Serapio Senior producer: Jordanna Lake Packaging producer: Marie-Hélène Savard Associate producer: Francine Laprotte Supervising manager: Laraine Bone Homelessness: The "Housing First" Approach (The National) No Way Home (The Fifth Estate) Rights and Wrongs (CBC Radio Ideas) Vulnerable LGBT Homeless Youth (CBC Radio The Current) Visit where you will find an archive of all previous News in Review seasons. As a companion resource, we recommend that students and teachers access for additional articles. Closed Captioning News in Review programs are closed captioned for the hearing impaired, for English as a Second Language students, or for situations in which the additional on-screen print component will enhance learning. CBC authorizes reproduction of material contained in this guide for educational purposes. Please identify source. News in Review is distributed by: Curio.ca CBC Media Solutions 2018 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

2 VIDEO REVIEW Before Viewing Watch Colleen Van Loon s video: I am a person without a home : 1. What does the narrator of this video want you to think about? 2. Do you think the message of this video is important? Please explain your answer. 3. Do you have any experience in dealing with people who don t have a home? 4. What are your beliefs about people without homes? Viewing 1. What is the minimum wage in Ontario? 2. More than a million Canadians work in minimum wage jobs. True False Vancouver will be constructed on vacant land and they can be disassembled and moved in the future. True False 7. How might the money invested in housing actually save money on other services for the homeless? After Viewing 1. What information surprised you in the video? 2. Would you object if a homeless shelter was slated to be built next to your school? How about next to your house? Please explain your answer. 3. Brainstorm a list of actions that might help to end homelessness. UNICEF rated Canada 17th out of 29 wealthy counties a poor ranking that many experts blame on the large number of Canadian children (1.2 million!) living in poverty. 3. List two (2) things that the people interviewed in the video said they could not afford to purchase. 4. How many Canadians do not have a home? 5. Why did some people in the Vancouver neighbourhood of Marpole oppose the subsidized facility for people without homes? 6. The modular projects designed and assembled for homeless people in /2

3 THE STORY Poverty is caused by many complex factors. Often people will try to find a quick and easy way to explain poverty by adopting narrowminded views like the belief that people are poor because of their personal shortcomings (laziness, drug addiction, bad choices etc.). However, this is an overly simplistic way of looking at the plight of the poor. Poverty can be greatly influenced by a myriad of factions including the economic and political policy of municipal, provincial and federal governments. Poverty disproportionately affects members of marginalized groups (people who have been historically oppressed). Groups that are most likely to live with low incomes are Indigenous people (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) living off reserve, people with disabilities, recent immigrants, single parents and unattached individuals between the ages of 45 and 64. In Canada, the question of who can be categorized as poor is answered statistically through three economic measures: the Low- Income Cut Off After-Tax (LICO-AT), the Low- Income Measure (LIM) and the Market Basket Measure (MBM). LICO-AT when an individual/family spends 63.6 per cent of its household income on food, shelter and clothing. LIM a measure of low-income set at 50 per cent of the median adjusted household income of all Canadians (taking into account the size of the family living in each house). If a household income is at 50 per cent or lower than the median national income than that household is defined as low income. In 2015, the after-tax LIM in Top to bottom: Kevin Johnson, 37, a temp agency worker who earns minimum wage; a 78 unit temporary housing complex in the neighbourhood of Marpole in Vancouver s south end; protestors rallying outside Vancouver City Hall in November 2017, to protest the Marpole development. Canada was just over $ for a single person, $ for a family of three and $ for a family of four. /3

4 MBM - measures the ability of a household to purchase a basket of essential goods including rental housing, nutritious food, inexpensive transportation, other necessary personal care and household items. According to each of these statistical measures, one out of every seven Canadians lives in poverty. Currently, there is no national strategy for addressing poverty and homelessness and much of the responsibility for dealing with these issues goes to municipal, provincial, territorial and Aboriginal governments. To Consider EXPENSE Housing (rental unit) Food Child care Transportation Personal care items Household items TOTAL MONTHLY COSTS ANNUAL COST OF LIVING $ MONTHLY COSTS 1. Do you think the three statistical measures capture what it means to be living in poverty? Which measure do you think most accurately measures poverty? Please explain your answer. 2. Why do you think there are different measures and attitudes towards defining who is poor? Activity 1 TASK: Calculating the cost-of-living in your community a) Complete the following chart in an effort to calculate the cost-of-living in your community. In this case, determine the cost for a family of three (one adult, one teenager and one infant). Use online sources (apartment rental sites, grocery store sites, transit sites, etc.) if you need help determining your costs. b) Calculate the annual salary of a person who works full time (40 hours per week) at minimum wage in your province/territory. Deduct 20 per cent in federal and provincial taxes. INCOME Weekly wage: Wage per hour multiplied by 40 Yearly wage: Weekly wage multiplied by 50 SUBTRACT Tax: Yearly wage multiplied by.20 EARNINGS AFTER TAX $ TOTALS c) Take the total earnings after tax and subtract the annual cost of living that you determined above: $ /4

5 d) How does your total compare with the Canadian LIM for a family of three ($ in 2015)? e) What would you do to try to reduce costs and increase income? f) Spending over 50 per cent of your income on rent puts you at risk of homelessness. Is the person in this scenario at risk of homelessness? Reflection Why do you think many affordable housing advocates consider housing a human right? Beginning in 2017, Ontario launched a guaranteed annual income pilot project in three cities: Hamilton, Lindsay and Thunder Bay. This pilot project would give people a basic annual income of $ Research what your province/territory has done to assist those who live in poverty. /5

6 BEING POOR IS Read the following reflections on being poor: Being poor is Not buying books at the book fair Not getting to go to birthday parties Not being able to go camping Pretending that you forgot your lunch * Being poor is expensive. It means buying stuff at full price because you couldn t afford to buy it when it was on sale.poor people will eat what they can afford, not what is most nutritious. For poor people, being asked to share or split costs for food can cause tension and anxiety. I feel like a failure. I ve worked hard for the last 18 years. Never taken a vacation. Rarely taken any sick days. But I ve never gotten ahead. I always thought working hard gets you to the top. That s what I was taught in school and by my peers. Sources: * Grade 4/5 class in North Bay, Ontario. (2005). Being Poor Is. Challenging Class Bias. Toronto District School Board. Rios, C. (May 7, 2015). 7 Everyday Things Poor People Worry About That Rich People Never Do. Everday Feminism. OZY editors. (August 1,. OZY.com. 1. Summarize your emotional reaction to the reflections on the left in three (3) words. Create a class Wordle ( based on all the responses from each of the students in your class. 2. Have you ever experienced (or witnessed) any of the examples given above? If you haven t, what aspects of your family s lifestyle have spared you from experiencing these situations? How do experiences with poverty impact our beliefs and attitudes? 3. How can we make school an emotionally safe and supportive place for those who live in poverty? 4. Write your own reflections on what being poor is (1-2 lines). Join a small group to create a poem of 6-10 lines. Recite this poem to your class. 5. Read a narrative of a Canadian teenager without a home: OR Watch a short video produced by a homeless youth: a) What did you learn about the individual s experience? b) What questions would you like to ask him or her? /6

7 c) In what ways can you connect with his or her story? In what ways is it difficult for you to relate to his or her story? d) What specific supports might have prevented the youth from becoming homeless? e) In a small group, compare the stories that you read or videos you watched. What are some common themes? Follow Up Contact a local organization that supports people without homes and ask if someone could come and speak to your class about the issues of homelessness in your community. /7

8 BY THE NUMBERS: Poverty and Homelessness in Canada Consider some of the statistics: Nearly 15 per cent of people with disabilities live in poverty; 59 per cent of this group are women. Estimates place the number of homeless individuals living with a disability or mental illness as high as 45 per cent of the overall homeless population. Children with disabilities are twice as likely to live in households relying on social assistance. Children under the age of 18 who live in families led by single women are more likely to live in low income than children in families headed by a couple. 21 per cent of single mothers in Canada raise their children while living in poverty. On the other hand, seven per cent of single fathers raise their children in poverty. Indigenous families are overrepresented among the homeless population in virtually all urban centres in Canada. The unemployment rate among First Nations aged 15 and older living on reserve is 25.2% and among the Inuit is 19.6%. However, unemployment decreases significantly as level of education increases. While only 12% of the overall population does not hold a high school diploma, this proportion is significantly higher for Indigenous people, particularly First Nations on reserve (47%) and Inuit (49%). Indigenous people who have a job earned an income that was on average about $9,000 lower than the average income of non-indigenous workers. In 2015, recent immigrants had an unemployment rate of 10%, which was higher than the rate of 7% among Canadian-born workers. The low-income rate among recent immigrants (20.3%) was more than double that of the total Canadian population (8.8%) in University graduates who've been in Canada five years or less are more than four times more likely to be unemployed than their Canadian counterparts. 1 in 5 racialized families live in poverty in Canada, as opposed to 1 in 20 nonracialized families. 1 in 10 Canadians cannot afford to fill their medical prescriptions. Canada is the only industrialized country with a universal /8

9 healthcare system without a corresponding national pharmacare policy. A McMaster University study found a 21-year difference in life expectancy between the poorest and wealthiest residents of Hamilton, Ontario. It has been estimated that $1 invested in the early years of a child s life can save up to $9 in future spending in the healthcare system. Food-insecure households are 80 per cent more likely to report symptom of diabetes, 60 per cent more likely to report symptoms of high blood pressure, and 70 per cent more likely to report food allergies. Almost 1 in 5 households experience serious housing affordability issues (spending over 50 per cent of their income on rent) which puts them at risk of homelessness. According to new research, spending $10 on housing and support for high-need, chronically homeless individuals resulted in almost $22 of savings related to health care, social supports, housing, and the justice system. Youth aged make up about 20 per cent of the homeless population. To Consider 1. Which statistics did you find most surprising? Why? 2. Why could poverty be viewed as discrimination based on race, Indigeneity, sex, age, geographic location, and physical/mental ability? 3. Why do you think some people think of social assistance as handouts that discourage people from working while others think of social assistance as an investment in a better society for all? Sources: Just the Facts. Canada Without Poverty. Retrieved from: Employment and Social Development Canada. (October 2016). Towards a Poverty Reduction Strategy A backgrounder on poverty in Canada. Retrieved from: Paperny, A.M. (January 10, 2014). Immigrant unemployment: The more education, the bigger the gap. Global News. Retrieved from: /9