Poverty, inequality & welfare

Our BC Budget 2019 priorities: Poverty reduction and climate action

Jan 8, 2019
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In anticipation of the 2019 BC Budget—which the provincial government will present in February—the CCPA-BC is publishing a series of Policy Note posts highlighting the recommendations from our submission to the Budget Consultations. Those recommendations include ideas for improving BC’s health care, education, transit, child care and much more. Today, I kick off the series… View Article

Land wealth is a massive source of inequality in BC

Sep 4, 2018
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Many of us worry about income inequality in BC, and so we should. But here’s the thing—bad as income inequality is, wealth inequality is worse. And in our province, that wealth inequality is driven in large part by real estate—who owns it, and who doesn’t. The ownership of real estate wealth in BC is highly… View Article

Urgent action needed to control rent increases: Submission to the BC Rental Housing Task Force

Jul 6, 2018
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On July 3rd, we shared our recommendations regarding BC’s Residential Tenancy Act and controlling rental costs in British Columbia with the BC Rental Housing Task Force. This is our submission. As we noted in our March submission to the BC government’s poverty reduction consultation, we believe that bold action to control rental costs must be… View Article

From housing market to human right: A view from Metro Vancouver

May 29, 2018
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I made the following submission to the Government of Canada’s consultation on National Housing Strategy’s human rights-based approach to housing, through which they are requesting “opinions and ideas about the key elements of a human rights-based approach to housing, the proposed approach to the new legislation, and new concepts to be explored.” This submission outlines key reasons… View Article

Deep poverty: BC government can—and should—end it

May 24, 2018
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The BC government’s public consultations into the development of a poverty reduction plan have ended. Now the ideas and recommendations from hundreds of British Columbians are in the hands of the government as they turn all that input into the official plan. We’ve been told to expect enabling legislation—including legislated targets and timelines—for the fall… View Article

BC’s poverty reduction plans: Progress and next steps

Apr 13, 2018
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After years of the previous BC government refusing to develop a poverty reduction plan, the new provincial government is finally moving forward on a plan. The Confidence and Supply Agreement between the BC NDP and Greens includes a commitment to “design and implement a province-wide poverty reduction strategy.” This is particularly gratifying for us at… View Article

Poverty interventions are health interventions: Three considerations

Mar 23, 2018
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An irrefutable evidence base demonstrates that socioeconomic conditions—in particular poverty and inequality—impact health. In health care we call these conditions ‘social determinants of health’ (SDOH)—a term that describes the downstream health impacts of multiple forms of systemic inequity. In the context of a society, culture and health system that focus on the individual, it is… View Article