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Report shows investing in families is key to ending child poverty

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EDMONTON – The Alberta College of Social Workers, Edmonton Social Planning Council, and Public Interest Alberta have jointly released a report on the state of child and family poverty in Alberta called ” Invest in Families: Ending Child Poverty is Good for All .”

Click to download: Invest In Families: Ending Child Poverty Is Good For All

Click to download: Invest In Families: Ending Child Poverty, Is Good For All (One Page Summary)

In Alberta, 1 in 6 children live below the poverty line. The report focuses on the impacts of poverty on the development of children, and its wide-ranging detrimental effects, including issues affecting mental health, educational attainment, employment, and housing throughout their lives up to adulthood.

The report demonstrates that investment into Alberta’s families, including child benefits, nutrition programs, affordable housing, and subsidized, quality child care, are the key to ending the cycles of poverty that end up blocking children from living lives of dignity where they’re able to thrive.

“Child care for a family is one of the biggest household expenses, which can be as high as 67% of their monthly income,” Sandra Ngo, the Research Coordinator at the Edmonton Social Planning Council said, “This makes it extremely difficult for a family to afford nutritious food, housing, education, and other essentials. Creating a universal and affordable, quality child care program would be a game changer for children and their parents.”

The report clearly demonstrates that ending child poverty is a moral imperative for Alberta. Investing now in Alberta’s families means a better province for everyone.

“The need to address child poverty continues to be a topic for all Albertans to care about,” said Ajay Hartenfeld Pandhi, President of the Alberta College of Social Workers. “Among all the economic discussions underway, let this topic be one that stands out as a priority in our decision making.”

The report comes at a critical time when the provincial government is making sweeping cuts to social programs, and freezing the minimum wage.

“The provincial government is headed in the wrong direction with many of their cuts to social programs and by, for the first time since 2010, freezing the minimum wage,” said Joel French, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta, “These cuts and freezes directly impact the most vulnerable people and families in the province. We owe it to the children of this province to take immediate action. Investments into social programs and public services including subsidized quality child care, a universal pharmacare program, and indexing of financial supports for those earning low incomes will go a long way to achieving that.”

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Media Contacts

Brett Lambert, Community Engagement Coordinator, Edmonton Social Planning Council

(780) 423-2031 ext. 351 BrettL@edmontonsocialplanning.ca

Lynn Labrecque King, Executive Direction and Registrar, Alberta College of Social Workers

(780) 421-1167 ext. 226 executivedirector@acsw.ab.ca

Laura Kruse, Communications Officer, Public Interest Alberta

587-568-2792 (cell) 780-420-0471 (office) communications@pialberta.org

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By getting involved with the Edmonton Social Planning Council, you add your voice to our message of positive social development and policy change.

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January 14, 2020
Invest in Families: Ending Child Poverty Is Good For All

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Every night, hundreds of thousands of Alberta children suffer the all-encompassing effects of poverty.

Every night, hundreds of thousands of Alberta children suffer the all-encompassing effects of poverty. Poverty is the single most important determinant of health for both children and adults. In Canada, approximately 1 in 5 children live below the poverty line. This leads to debilitating effects for their personal physical and mental health, which can cause lasting damage.

Research shows that children and youth who grow up impoverished face significant challenges. They are more vulnerable to issues affecting mental health, educational attainment, health & cognitive development, housing, relationships, employment, and food insecurity. When compared to the non-poor, the long-term poor show large deficits in cognitive and socioemotional development; score significantly lower on tests of cognitive achievement than do children who are not poor. It is immoral to allow child poverty to exist. Children and youth are suffering from long-term health issues and seeing their potential diminished.

Poverty is often linked to adverse childhood experiences and economic security for families is imperative in mitigating the cycle of poverty. In general, children who grow up in low-income situations are more likely to remain in low income into adulthood. Family circumstances may also affect one’s life path. For instance, Alberta children living with a lone parent are five times more likely to live in low-income households, while immigrant or Indigenous children are also at a higher risk of living in poverty.

Currently, children’s health is being explored through the lens of trauma. Adverse childhood experiences are traumatic events in childhood such as household instability, economic insecurity, and experiencing or witnessing violence. Adverse childhood experiences have been linked to precarious health behaviours, chronic health issues, poorer outcomes, and early death. Children who experience cumulative adverse childhood experiences are more likely to have physical, emotional, and social issues. Children whose parents are living in poverty are more likely to experience lower socioeconomic status as well as other negative outcomes as adults.

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By getting involved with the Edmonton Social Planning Council, you add your voice to our message of positive social development and policy change.

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January 14, 2020
2019 Vital Topics – Sports and Recreation

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Edmonton Vital Signs is an annual check-up conducted by the Edmonton Community Foundation, in partnership with the Edmonton Social Planning Council, to measure how the community is doing. This year we will also be focusing on individual issues, VITAL TOPICS, that are timely and important to Edmonton.

This edition focuses on the impact of Sports and Recreation.

Download: Vital Topic – Sports and Recreation

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* Please note that we are not a government department or direct service provider. We do not provide individuals with information about social benefit programs (i.e. AISH, workers compensation benefits, etc.). If you have questions about these services, please dial 211 or access online by clicking here. For assistance with provincial programs, Alberta Supports can help you access more than 30 programs and 120 community services https://www.alberta.ca/alberta-supports.aspx.

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Edmonton Social Planning Council
10544 – 106 Street NW, Suite 200 (Bassini Building)
Edmonton, Alberta T5H 2X6
780-423-2031.

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December 19, 2019
2019 Alberta Provincial Budget Fact Sheet

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Download: 2019 Alberta Budget fACTsheet

Introduction
The 2019 budget, which runs until March 31, 2020, is titled A Plan for Jobs and the Economy. The main priorities it identifies is creating jobs and reducing the deficit. We are now almost 7 months into the 2019-20 budget year, so many of the big changes announced will not take effect until next spring’s budget covering the 2020-21 fiscal year which starts on April 1, 2020. The government fiscal plan will see a 2.8 per cent reduction in spending over the next four years or $1.3 billion lower than 2018-19 levels. Since Alberta’s inflation and population growth is going up about 3.5 per cent per year, in real per capita terms this represents a spending reduction of 17 per cent. To address this spending reduction, the size of the public service is expected to shrink by 7.7 per cent. The reductions will be achieved largely through attrition, although some layoffs will also occur.
Revenue Measures
Revenue is forecast to remain flat at $50 billion in 2019-20 and $50.1 billion in 2020-21 and will increase to $57.5 billion in 2022-23. A modest but realistic oil price outlook, along with market access issues, impede revenue growth over the next two years. In addition, the carbon levy from the previous NDP government was repealed as of May 30, 2019. The corporate tax rate will decrease from 12 per cent to eight per cent over a period of two and a half years. Conversely, personal income taxes will be going up due to exemptions and tax brackets no longer being indexed for inflation.
Child Benefits
The Alberta Child Benefit and the Alberta Family Employment Tax Credit, two programs designed to support lower- and middle-income working families will be replaced with a new Alberta Child and Family Benefit program starting in July 2020. While the base benefit for the lowest income families is being increased by 15 per cent, the benefit will be phased out more quickly as income rises so fewer families will receive the benefit. That’s why the new single benefit will deliver about $40 million less to Alberta families than the two benefits delivered by the previous government.
Affordable Housing and Homelessness
Funding for affordable housing and homelessness is being maintained for the balance of the 2019-20 fiscal year. Starting next year there will be a 24 per cent reduction to the Rental Assistance Program and a 3.5 per cent reduction in operating budgets for housing management bodies like Capital Region Housing. Partnerships will be pursued with housing management bodies and private sector to reduce the public costs of affordable housing. Eight million dollars is also being made available to the Hope Mission to build a new emergency shelter in Edmonton.
Childcare and Child Intervention

Funding for early intervention programs will be reduced to $91 million in the 2020-21 compared to $104 million this year. Child intervention funding is being kept at the same level as this year’s funding for the following three years without adjustments for caseload growth or inflation.

The Early Learning and Child Care centres (aka $25 per day child care) pilot project will continue until the end of their three-year terms and thereafter reviewed with no assurance that they will be continued or expanded.

Employment and Income Support

Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH), the Alberta Seniors Benefit, Income Support, and Special Needs Assistance programs are being kept at their current levels, however they are being de-indexed from the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This means they will not be kept up with the rising cost of living.

A full program review will be undertaken to address the rapid growth of costs for AISH, Persons with Developmental Disabilities, and Family Support for Children with Disabilities. A $193 million reduction in funding for Employment and Income Support (social assistance) is expected between now and fiscal year 2022-23 due to expected reductions in caseloads due to an improving economy.

The Summer Temporary Employment Program (STEP), which provides funding to employers to hire high school or post-secondary students for summer jobs, will be eliminated after the 2019 program year. This will have a detrimental impact on students seeking to build their job-related experiences and skillsets when pursuing careers in their field of study.

Addiction and Mental Health

Over the next four years, an additional $100 million will go towards a mental health and addiction strategy, $40 million for an opioid response, $20 million for palliative care, and $6 million for a new sexual assault hotline.

Seniors Drug Coverage

Coverage for non-senior dependents including spouses under seniors’ prescription drug coverage is being ended. Income testing may be introduced for seniors’ drug coverage.

Community Supports and Family Safety (CSFC)

There is $125 million budgeted for CSFC for fiscal year 2019-20 which will increase to $134 million in the next three years. The Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) budget has been maintained at the same level during this time.

K-12 Education

School nutrition programs will see a 20 per cent increase after earlier facing the threat of elimination. However, the school fee reduction program is instead being eliminated.

An estimated additional 60,000 children are expected to enter the K-12 education system during the next four years. However, education funding is being kept at the same $8.2 billion level. Neither inflation nor enrolment growth is being funded.

Affordable Transportation
The low income transit support pilot program, first introduced in 2017 in Edmonton and Calgary, will be extended to support Albertans in need of public transportation at $9.5 million per year. This enables economic participation and improves the quality of life for low-income Albertans. The government fiscal plan will see a 2.8 per cent reduction in spending over the next four years or $1.3 billion lower than 2018-19 levels. Since Alberta’s inflation and population growth is going up about 3.5 per cent per year, in real per capita terms this represents a spending reduction of 17 per cent. The Edmonton Social Planning Council is an independent, non-profit, charitable organization focused on social research. This fACT Sheet, prepared by the Edmonton Social Planning Council, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Edmonton Social Planning Council #200, 10544 – 106 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, T5K 1C5 www.edmontonsocialplanning.ca @edmontonspc [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

October 28, 2019

2019 Alberta Budget fACTsheet

The 2019 budget, which runs until March 31, 2020, is titled A Plan for Jobs and the Economy. The main priorities it identifies is creating jobs and reducing the deficit. We are now almost 7 months into the 2019-20 budget year, so many of the big changes announced will not take effect until next springâs budget covering the 2020-21 fiscal year which starts on April 1, 2020.

The government fiscal plan will see a 2.8 per cent reduction in spending over the next four years or $1.3 billion lower than 2018-19 levels. Since Albertaâs inflation and population growth is going up about 3.5 per cent per year, in real per capita terms this represents a spending reduction of 17 per cent.

To address this spending reduction, the size of the public service is expected to shrink by 7.7 per cent. The reductions will be achieved largely through attrition, although some layoffs will also occur.

ESPC Documents/Fact Sheets/2019 Alberta Budget fACTsheet.pdf

October 28, 2019