Jamie Woodford
Lethbridge Herald
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Alberta's poverty rate hasn't changed much in the last five years, and if things stay on course, low-income families and individuals will continue to fall further behind.
According to a new report by Action to End Poverty in Alberta and Vibrant Communities Calgary, nearly 400,000 Albertans are living in poverty, and the cost of not addressing poverty is rising.
The report states that total yearly external costs, including healthcare and crime, add up to $9.5 billion. But the social and emotional costs, although unquantifiable, are just as rich.
"If you think about it in terms of people who aren't realizing their full potential, there's a significant waste in human capital as a result of people not being able to address their goals and aspirations," said Joe Ceci, co-ordinator for Action to End Poverty in Alberta. "We know that about 20-25 per cent of children growing up in poverty today will continue to be poor throughout their lifetime. So who really knows what that untold number is in terms of the social and emotional costs, which is significant "
The report shows that it costs more money to alleviate and maintain the current approach to poverty than it would be to come up with strategies to prevent poverty for the long term, Ceci said.
Alleviation strategies set an "unintentional trap," says the report.
"Poverty alleviation strategies aim to enable individuals to meet their most basic needs (such as food, shelter, clothing), which may provide a safety net, but do not provide a springboard to move individuals and families out of poverty."
A provincial poverty reduction strategy would work to eliminate poverty rather that just relieving the issues related to poverty.
"It's looking down the road and saying we're a creative, resourceful rich province . . . we should have as our goal the elimination of poverty amongst those 400,000, and we all benefit as a result," said Ceci.
"It's not just springboarding those individuals - we all benefit. We all benefit when less goes into the symptoms of the problem, which were treating now, as opposed to addressing directly."
Alberta is one of three provinces in Canada without a strategy, and those that do have one have seen a reduction in poverty.
"Particularly in places like Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Ontario are showing benefits by coming up with a strategy, imbedding it in legislation in an act, so that there's timelines, there's accountabilities and there's deliveries. That's what we don't have. That's going to take some time," he said.
In order to be successful, Ceci said all levels of government, community groups and the business community need to come together under one approach.
"We need some pretty big key stakeholders to be part of all this," he said. "Almost like how it takes a village to raise a child, it's going to take all of the sectors in Alberta to work together to create a strategy."
The report says a good strategy should provide a comprehensive way to address issues such as affordable housing and childcare, social infrastructure, income supports and supplements, and enabling people to maintain assets while receiving social assistance.
"We know that if people have stable, long-term affordable housing they'll be able to re-direct and sink more of their money into those things that allow them to get further ahead, like education, healthcare," he said.
"There are subsides and government programs and all that sort of stuff, but not everybody qualifies for those, and people have to direct too much of their disposable income towards those kinds of things."
The face of poverty takes many forms, but one group that is often overlooked is the working poor who often don't qualify for subsides to help offset the cost of living.
"They are struggling," said Ceci. "They may be just above what income supports will allow in terms of their need for support."
He said there are government programs to help with healthcare costs, but more springboards are needed in areas like affordable housing to help them get ahead.
"Increased minimum wages would be a huge boon to people working at the low end because it would bump up everybody a little bit and make those minimum wages more living wages, which they should be as opposed to the minimum employers can get away paying people."
But increased wages won't come from government edict, he said.
"They will happen from businesses seeing the benefit of supporting workers more with monies that is typically seen as cutting into business profit margins."
Ceci argues that if people are paid more, they tend to be more productive and stay with their jobs longer which means employers spend less time training new employees.
"There is a cost benefit a return on investment for businesses that offer a living wage," he said.
For more information visit, www.actiontoendpovertyinalberta.org.