It was around this time in 2018 when VCC published Bill 26: An Act to Combat Poverty and Fight for Albertans with Disabilities. The bill involved a modest increase to benefit rates, an increase to asset thresholds, and an indexation of benefits to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The social services sector saw this change as “momentous, long-hoped for, and crucial.” After years of advocacy through letter writing, and research, our collective voices were finally heard. It was a small step in the right direction towards income security for those most in need.

Regrettably, indexation was paused within the year and the step backwards left a bitterness that was swiftly obscured by the pandemic, and a steady stream of announcements we scarcely had time to wrap our heads around.

The environment of the past three years has been one of decreased operating funding, increased demand, expert panels, changes to benefits, political polarization, and at one point a heightened focus on reining in government spending. But last week, the Government of Alberta announced measures to tackle the impact of inflation, including:

• $600 for every senior citizen and every child in families earning less than $180,000, over the next six months.
• The elimination of the provincial gasoline tax for the next six months.
• Personal income tax to be retroactively reindexed to 2022 levels.
• Alberta’s Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH), income support, and income support for seniors will be reindexed to inflation, which means benefit rates will increase by 6% in January.
• An increased rebate on electricity bills of $200 per household (in addition to the previously announced program) and continuation of the government’s planned Natural Gas Rebate Program, that provides rebates in the event natural gas prices exceed $6.50 per gigajoule.
• An additional $20 million in funding for Alberta’s food banks and other civil society organizations.

Although it looks like many of these measures are one-time payments to help people “weather the storm,” according to the Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services, indexation will continue, ensuring payments rise with the rate of inflation. These affordability measures will make a huge difference to people living on low incomes. With 211 calls for basic needs support, food prices increasing dramatically, and Alberta Food Banks seeing a 73% increase in the number of hampers distributed between 2019 and 2022, this relief is welcome.

Opportunities

To be clear, we're very pleased with the government’s action but there is still work to do, particularly with income support. Age, ability to work, and family composition seem to be key eligibility factors for income support that leave many behind, especially singles, a population that experiences the deepest poverty rates. The inadequate benefit rates are also a violation of the program’s purpose, which is “to provide programs for persons in need for such of their requirements for food, shelter, personal items and medical and other benefits as are essential to their health and wellbeing.”

The chart above compares the monthly benefit levels for a single employable person in Alberta over a seven-year period. Despite the recent increase to benefit rates, Alberta’s income support program continues to fall significantly short of meeting basic needs, only growing by a rate of 1.38% each year on average. At that rate it would take 185 years before rates are within $100 of the current poverty line.

Tying income supports and disability benefits to inflation is something we have been advocating for since indexation was paused, but we have some concerns about how this is being implemented. The government will use the All Items CPI. However, as noted in this School of Public Policy report, the All Items CPI is based on spending by the average middle income household, and not necessarily applicable to people with very low incomes, who spend a greater portion of their budget on food and rent. Consideration should be given to a different approach to calculating inflation. An increase to the earning exemption rate would also improve the program by incentivizing people to work by reducing claw backs.

Income support is just one part of the social safety net, but it is one of the most impactful tools to reduce poverty. In fact, the biggest decline in poverty occurred between 2019 and 2020 because of federal pandemic benefits, and if we had real time data, we would likely see improvements to food insecurity, mental health, and a host of other health outcomes during that same time period.

Poverty isn’t only about income, but it’s always about income on some level. Providing all Calgarians with the opportunity to build economic and financial capacities which enable them to not only meet their basic needs, but to thrive is important. Provincial supports such as AISH and income support should be enough to cover basic needs, so we will continue to advocate to bring these issues to the forefront.

Resources

• Adequate income support programs are a critical part of the community’s social safety net. They complement and fill the gaps when well-paying employment is currently unavailable or for people unable to work full-time hours or at all. Learn more.
• Learn about more changes that could improve income support in Why do we penalize people who work while on Income Support.
• The report on Household Food Insecurity from the PROOF research team recommends better income support as a way to improve food security. Food insecurity expert Dr. Lynn McIntyre explores income-based solutions in her blog.
• A recent paper on inflation, income support and homelessness by the School of Public Policy shows a 1% increase in rent relative to income is associated with a 2% increase in the prevalence of homelessness.