The real cost of living
I don’t think the powers that be (the people or persons who make financial decisions) have a clue what life is really like or the cost of living. Here is an example:
Regular assistance for a single person (welfare rate): $935.
The maximum amount one can get for rent is $375 the rest is for bills etc. I would really like to know where can anyone find a safe decent place to live for $375 in rent? It doesn’t exist I can tell you.
Rent for one bedroom is $900 (if you are lucky to find something like that) then hydro on a plan is $35 a month. As you can clearly see you have no money left for food or anything else.
Regular bills for a single person:
Rent $900 (and that can and usually does go up every year), hydro $35, phone $40 (or more), food $100, that alone comes to $1,075 so right there you are short $140. And for those out there saying “Get off our butts and get a job”: well yes for some a job is the right answer but for others a job is not possible for various reasons, mental health, physical health and other legit reasons. So how do you expect people to live like this for such a small amount? Food banks give one week of food once a month for a single person.
I would really like for the government to really live like we do for two months. They can pick someone and make them find a place to live for $375 then pay all their expenses with nothing else except what they are given for a single person a month.
But they won’t do that because they are too comfortable living the life they have. The amounts we are given is way below poverty this is the reason so many are homeless today. Most people don’t want to like this but have no way of fixing it.
How do we get people who make the financial decisions to change the rates we are paid? The amount for rent needs to be based on real prices of today not prices from the 1980s.
Tobius Holmes
Duncan