POVERTY
The truth about poverty |
There are many misconceptions about poverty -- primary among these are that:
The facts prove otherwise. Here are just a few:
With so many Canadians living in poverty, the cost to us as a society is staggering. It affects living conditions, physical health, mental health and overall well being. One authority has asserted that the annual public cost of poverty in Ontario is $32 billion to $38 billion, or 5% of Provincial GDP. Such costs include not only remedial costs, but lost productivity and lost opportunity costs. One of the best analyses available has asserted that the real cost of poverty to each Ontario household works out to $2,299 to $2,895 to annually.[ix]
Footnotes and Resources |
The Effects of Poverty
Adrian and Sherri's Story |
In December of 2015 Sherri and Adrian, who live in Durham, fell upon hard times when Adrian lost his job due to a work injury. Although Adrian was able to collect long term disability payments it was not enough to support him, his wife, their young daughter, 3 dogs and a cat. Within a matter of time they could no longer make mortgage payments and the bank took their house. Their finances exhausted on the house and living expenses, the first and last month’s rent required to rent an apartment were out of reach. This left Adrian and his family homeless.
With no home, no money, and nowhere to live, they turned to a homeless shelter. Only one shelter in Durham provides emergency housing for families and then only for a limited time. Once this was exhausted, there was nowhere else to go. Destitute, Adrian and his family were forced to live in their car. They ate at soup kitchens and food banks, and hung out at the library. But living in a vehicle with a young daughter is against regulations administered by the Children's Aid Society. The family again found themselves desperate to find a place to live. Because they had already exhausted their time at the previous shelter, they were forced to split up. Sherrie and their daughter stayed at a local women's shelter while Adrian stayed in the car with the animals. With the much loved animals adding to their financial burdens they decided to locate temporary care for the animals until they were back on their feet. While seeking help from an animal rescue agency, at the same time they sought assistance for housing from Community Development Council Durham. CDCD was able to provide last month’s rent. Adrian and Sherrie could now locate an apartment -- but had a month and a half wait before they could move in. This created a new crisis. No organization would help with living expenses and accommodation because Adrian's disability payments, on paper, were higher than the organization's threshold for assistance. This left Adrian in his car, and Sherrie and her daughter living at the shelter. To add to their burdens, the animal rescue agency could not take their animals because their vaccine shots had expired. After days of discouragement not knowing how they would get by, the animal rescue got back with an unexpected and generous offer to put the family and animals up in a hotel until their apartment was available. Adrian and his family were elated! Although they would continue eating at soup kitchens they now had a clean and safe place to stay, a semblance of stability and security for their daughter. As Adrian and his family patiently wait for the time when they can move into their new apartment, they continue seeking the assistance of food banks, soup kitchens and support from the displaced street community that has become their family. Even with all they have gone through, they are happy and thankful to all the organizations that supported them in their time of need. Sherri, who has never lost her beautiful smile through all of this comments, "faith gets you a long way." There is light at the end of their tunnel for Adrian and Sherri. Sadly, this is not the case for many others who find themselves trying to navigate the social assistance network. |
Meet John |
John is an alcoholic. Life circumstances and the tyranny of experience govern his choices and have gotten him to where he is. Because of his illness he finds himself alone with nowhere to go. He does not know where his children are and his siblings have exhausted all measure of sympathy and grace. His alcoholism has left him homeless; he finds it difficult to access the social assistance network. Although he does receive social assistance, much of it goes on alcohol. The cold winter months are difficult for John as there is nowhere for him to go. There is only one men's shelter in the region and the length of stay is limited. Winter works on its own schedule so when John's stay at the shelter is exhausted he is forced to live on the streets. With temperatures reaching minus 10 degrees centigrade this is a difficult life for anyone, let alone a man in his senior years. Lack of housing and limited available social assistance leave John with no other alternatives.
We're setting out to see what we can do to connect him with new sources of help. It's not easy, as John simultaneously asks for help but resists anything that smacks of external control or direction -- clearly the consequence of life experiences. |
Bryan's Dilemma - A Story in Progress |
Bryan is a wonderful man with a heart of gold. However, Bryan has made decisions in life which have left him estranged from his family and living in squalor -- though thankful that he now has a bed to sleep on. He currently lives in a boarding house and does odd jobs around the building to stay active.
Bryan has a problem. Bryan collects social assistance but does not know how his entitlements are disbursed. He does know that his current rent of $499 is paid directly to his landlord. But he does not know where (he thinks) another $300 of social assistance, is going and doesn't know how to find out. Bryan would like to move into a new place since his current circumstances pose tangible threats to his well being, but doesn't know where to start. Thanks to issues in Bryan's past life (now largely resolved) he is under the care of a trustee who has primary control of his funds. Added to this, Bryan has trouble with details. From what Bryan can recall, he has had four trustees over the past four years but does not know the identity of the latest individual. Bryan has tried to obtain information from case workers in several organizations with no luck. Without a phone and with a limited understanding of how the system works, he finds himself lost. Bryan obtains food from food banks and soup kitchens, and toiletries and clothes from shelters. Feeling trapped, he has spent his days wandering from hangout to hangout with no change on the horizon. In Brian's words, "You have to have some reason to get up in the morning. It's hard to do though because, being caught in this system, there is no need to strive because it's the same routine every day and there's no way to get out." He comes to the Back Door Mission to socialize and to get help navigating the system. Or if nothing else, he says, just a listening ear. The Back Door Mission is finding answers for Bryan. We have located his trustee and know now how he can access his funds and what needs to be done to arrange redirection of payments for a new room or apartment. Now we can set out to help Bryan with other issues he needs tackled. |