Vancouver’s poverty rate leads country

Thanks to Jean Swanson for drawing to my attention a new report from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities called Mending Canada’s frayed social safety net: The role of municipal governments. The report looks at key social indicators in 24 Canadian municipalities, and contains some stark findings for Vancouver. Jean summarizes these in a blog post on the Vancouver Sun site, found here.  Among the stats:

Of the 24 cities, Vancouver has the highest percent of population with low income; the highest percent of working poor families; and the largest and fastest growing income gap between rich and poor. Welfare income was also very low in Vancouver, and Vancouver had the second highest number of households which paid more than 30% of their income for rent and/or lived in inadequate housing. Vancouver was also worst for “community affordability.” That means that the combination of low income plus high cost of living makes the poorest fifth of Vancouver residents worse off than those in other cities.

Topics: Housing & homelessness, Poverty, inequality & welfare