Week 8- poverty

Question 1

Key areas to address provincially

Answer 1

Breaking the cycle of poverty in children and youth
Moving towards employment and income security
Establishment of long term goal to end homelessness
Use evidence based policy to measure success

Question 2

Breaking the Cycle of Poverty in Children and Youth

Answer 2

Child benefits
Student nutrition
Health benefits-Healthy Smiles Ontario; health benefits for low income families
Early ID of mental health issues
Education; full day kindergarten
Programs for vulnerable youth
Aboriginal education initiatives
Children in care-moving “out of the system”

Question 3

Moving Towards Employment and Income Security

Answer 3

Helping youth transition to workplace
Removing barriers to unemployment for most vulnerable
Supporting employment for Aboriginal people
Child care initiatives
Help for the working poor
Social assistance programs

Question 4

Moving Towards Employment and Income Security:

Guaranteed basic income -ontatio (2017)

Answer 4

A basic income is a payment to eligible families or individuals that ensures a minimum income level, regardless of employment status.
Different than social assistance, a basic income can be:
given to anyone who meets the income eligibility criterion
given to someone who may be working but earning below the basic income level
generally simpler to administer

Question 5

Long Term Goal to end Homelessness

Answer 5

Long term affordable housing
Homelessness prevention
Mental health and addictions programs and supports
Affordable housing- Pan Am/Para Pan Am games-converted to affordable housing ; federal funding

Question 6

Evidence Based Policy- Using 10 indicators to measure progress

Answer 6

Birth Weights
School Readiness (Early Development Instrument)
Educational Progress (Combined Grade 3 & Grade 6)
High School Graduation Rates
Low Income Measure (LIM50)
Depth of Poverty (LIM40)
Ontario Housing Measure
Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET)
Long term unemployment
Poverty rates of unemployment

Question 7

How do we define poverty?

Answer 7

Poorly defined both nationally and globally
Statistics Canada recognizes that there is no accepted definition/formula of what it means to be poor…….What impact can this have on this vulnerable population ?????

Question 8

4 common definitions are utilized by policy makers; 3 of which are developed by the government

Answer 8

Basic Needs Approach
Market Basket Measure
Low Income Cut Off Measure
Low Income Measure

Question 9

Basic Needs Approach

Answer 9

Defines poverty as “lacking food, clothing, and shelter plus other necessities required to maintain long term physical well-being” (Sarlo, 1996 as cited in Stamler & Yui, 2012, p 421)
Basic needs measure arbitrarily determines what the basic necessities are and costs them out; anyone who cannot afford the cost of the deemed basic needs are considered poor

Question 10

Market Basket Measure

Answer 10

Created by Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC)
Similar to ‘basic needs approach’ except that the contents of the essentials are not defined (beyond food, clothing and shelter)
Looks at needs beyond purely physical needs
Both basic needs and market basket measure are based on a reference family of two adults and two children

Question 11

Low Income Cut Off Measure (LICO)

Answer 11

Based on family income rather than family costs
Based on the premise that the average CDN family spends 50% of its income on clothing, food and shelter; anyone spending more than that will have little disposable income for other necessities of life
Divided into family sizes ranging from 1-7+; also referenced against the # of people in that family’s place of residence
Identifies persons in Canada who make considerably less that than average
Relative measure of poverty ….as economy grows and people make more money on average, the LICO moves up with it

Question 12

Low Income Measure (LIM)

Answer 12

Developed by Stats Canada
Based directly on income
Calculated on what a single person requires using the assumption that food, clothing and shelter should consume 50% of median income for one person

Question 13

Working Poor

Answer 13

“someone who works the equivalent of FT for at least half of the year but whose family income is below a low income threshold” (Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, 2007, p. 6 as cited in Stamler & Yui, 2012, p. 422).

Question 14

3 ‘Levels’ of Poverty

Answer 14

Absolute poverty
relative poverty
subjective poverty

Question 15

Absolute poverty

Answer 15

Having less than the defined minimum, based on the cost of necessities
A life-threatening deprivation of resources

Question 16

Relative poverty

Answer 16

Having significantly less than the rest of the population

Deprivation of some individuals in comparison to those who have more

Question 17

Subjective poverty

Answer 17

Measures poverty by asking people how much they feel they need to get by, and takes into account that responses vary by the respondent’s income
Refers to individual perception that they have insufficient income to meet the needs of their family

Question 18

How to define homelessness

Answer 18

Definitions are varied and not terribly specific
Stearman (1999 as cited in Stamler & Yui, 2012, p. 423) “identified 4 categories to describe this population:
Inadequate or inferior housing (lack of basic facilities)
Insecure housing (squatters in buildings or refugee camps)
Houselessness (people who use shelters, institutions or other short term accommodation)
Rooflessness (living and sleeping outdoors)”

Question 19

Niagara District Health Council identifies 4 categories of homelessness

Answer 19

Episodic
seasonal
absolute
situational

Question 20

Episodic:

Answer 20

moves often, has periods of no housing

Question 21

Seasonal:

Answer 21

able to find housing during winter or other inclement weather

Question 22

Absolute:

Answer 22

lives on the street or in shelters for the majority of any given time

Question 23

Situational:

Answer 23

absence of housing due to significant life event such as violence, fire, illness

Question 24

Statistics on Homelessness

Answer 24

Challenging
Snapshot in time
Difficult to contact the population in order to count them
Consider how census surveys are conducted………….
What challenges does this pose??????

Many of our homeless population don’t live on the streets, they may
Couch surf
Live in cars
Find short term accommodation at friends/relatives
As a result it is very difficult to gather accurate statistics

Question 25

Causes of Homelessness

Answer 25

Unaffordable housing
Decrease in the number of low income housing
Increase in the number of poor people
De-institutionalization of mentally ill
Inadequate minimum wage
Mental illness including addictions can result in job insecurity
Overall poverty, unemployment, poor employment
Chronically homeless individuals have frequently indicated severe childhood traumas.
Often multi-factorial

Question 26

Specific Health Issues R/T Poverty & Homelessness

Answer 26

Health issues are the same but more at risk.
Poor oral hygiene, skin & foot disorders, respiratory & hypertension.
Exacerbations of chronic disease.
Long term planning difficult.

Question 27

The Effects on a Community

Answer 27

Many do not see it as a problem.
Yet, we spend approx. 1 billion/yr in taxes to deal with the problem!
Need to change the way we feel.

Homelessness- community problem, community solutions

Question 28

The Effect of Child Poverty

Answer 28

Children living in low income families or neighbourhoods have worse outcomes on average than other children on a range of key health indicators such as infant mortality, low birth weight, respiratory conditions, obesity, injuries, and developmental outcomes.

Children who experience deep and persistent poverty in the earliest years of their lives are most at risk. Health improves with each step up the socioeconomic ladder.

Question 29

What prevents homeless individuals from getting paid work?

Answer 29

No fixed address
Lack of work experiences
No phone
No money for transportation for job search
Don’t have right clothes or appearance
Legal issues
Lack of motivation
Other problems which include: waking up and keeping a schedule, health and literacy problems

Question 30

Role of the CHN

Answer 30

Advocate through political action.
Empower & enable.
Deliver care as able.

include advocating through political action and enabling clients to empower themselves
Homelessness research can be difficult as knowing who the homeless people are or where to find them is challenging
Also, there are competing priorities of the client, the perception that the endpoint of the research does not make a difference, and funding shortages
To overcome some of these barriers, CHNs use a community participation approach

Question 31

CHNs roles include

Answer 31

Advocating: through political action and enabling clients to empower themselves

Homelessness research:
can be difficult as knowing who the homeless people are or where to find them is challenging

competing priorities of the client…… the perception that the endpoint of the research does not make a difference, and funding shortages

CHNs need to use a community participation approach

Question 32

CNA Feels The federal poverty reduction strategy could include the following actions:

Answer 32

Implement strategies to generate good jobs that pay a living wage
Reform Canada’s employment insurance system by expanding eligibility and improving benefit levels
Invest in a national, affordable housing plan.
Ensure income support so that all may live in health and dignity – that is, ensure that social assistance rates provide recipients with benefits that match the cost of living
Invest in universal, regulated, affordable, not-for-profit, public systems of early learning and child care
Expand medicare to include a publicly funded and publicly controlled national pharmacare program.

Question 33

UPSTREAM Thinking

Answer 33

Most experts agree that homeless shelters are a bandaid solution, as they usually offer little more than a bed and hot meal. The City of Toronto and the Ontario government spend roughly $120-million a year to fund the 65 permanent shelters and Out of the Cold programs in Toronto.