According to a new report by Vibrant Communities Calgary, considerable numbers of Calgarians remain impoverished.

The 2021 Poverty Snapshot in Calgary indicates that despite overall declining rates of poverty, nearly 10 per cent of Calgarians live below the poverty line.

For a family of four, that line is just under $40,000 per year.

“Poverty exists throughout our city and affects each of our neighbours differently,” said Meaghon Reid, Executive Director for Vibrant Communities Calgary.

“We have to shake our idea of what poverty looks like in our city, because it’s happening everywhere,” she said.

Some of the report highlights include an increase in food bank use by 44 per cent from 2019, poverty affects single people the most, and the extent to which affordable housing is needed in Calgary.

The organization has also incorporated new sources of data this year into their report. Sector-specific information generated by other organizations has been used to provide a clearer picture of the extent of poverty in Calgary.

“We’ve done quite a bit of evaluation with people living in poverty over the course of this year, and that voice of lived experience is so important in this work,” said Reid.

The full report is available on enoughforall.ca.

Poverty a solvable problem

Reid said that there are concrete policy decisions that can be made towards ending poverty.

“Poverty is a solvable problem,” she said.

Reid said that there have been success stories where successful policy implementation has led to a reduction in poverty, and from the outcomes associated with poverty.

“We saw that in relation to child poverty for example with the Alberta Child and Family benefit, and then the Canadian Child Benefit,” she said.

The report highlights the overall trend downwards for poverty amongst children, crediting the decrease to the benefit programs.

Reid also pointed out the positive impacts from the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit to keep people out of poverty during the early part of the pandemic.

“Mental health calls to the Calgary Counseling Center for that income bracket that was receiving CERB went down significantly,” she said.

Although, she said, with CERB now ended, mental health issues would likely rise for those people, alongside the trend in the general population.

Looking at provincial policy as a solution for poverty

The 2021 Poverty Snapshot report identified many of the areas that could lead to a reduction of poverty as being under provincial jurisdiction. Though, she said, it was important to not look at poverty like a “jurisdictional football.”

She said that much of the multi-jurisdictional flow-through dollars for housing are held at the provincial level. So too are programs like Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH).

“The city can only do so much, for example, in terms of accessing rapid housing initiatives dollars from the federal government, if the provincial government is not providing some operating funds for those,” she said.

“It’s tricky, right, because we have a city purview and we have the city Poverty Reduction Strategy.”

Vibrant Communities Calgary is also calling on the federal and provincial governments to change rules surrounding earned income exemptions.

“So there’s actually no benefit to do much work, or to seek work, or attachment to the labor force—if that’s what someone chooses—if you’re on income supports, because you actually get radically dinged for that in terms of clawbacks,” said Reid.

She said that changing those rules would have a significant impact on reducing poverty.

The policy suggestions that Vibrant Communities Calgary creates are directly formed from the experiences of those in poverty in Calgary.

“It’s one of our biggest principles; that we elevate the voice of lived experience, and that we cannot suggest or implement solutions that are not led and informed by people who are living in poverty,” said Reid.

“Oftentimes, there’s a huge gap between the solutions that policymakers … think are the solutions, are often not the solutions that are that are being asked for people that live in poverty.”