Author: Web Administrator

Media Release
November 23, 2011

The Edmonton Social Planning Council, Public Interest Alberta and the Alberta College of Social Workers released a new report today entitled In This Together: Ending Poverty in Alberta. This report shows the number of children living in poverty rose dramatically from 53,000 to 73,000 in just one year (from 2008 to 2009).

“Almost half (47%) of these children living below the low income cut off (LICO After Tax) are living in families where the household works full time hours for the entire year, yet they are still living in poverty, ” says John Kolkman Research Coordinator at the ESPC and the main report author. “The recession has plunged thousands more families with children into poverty. While existing government transfers have helped many families, we see far too many people falling through the cracks.”

“With one in four employed people in Alberta making less than $15/hour, we are seeing increased levels of poverty as many families are not able to keep up with increasing cost of living,” says Lori Sigurdson, Professional Affairs Coordinator, Alberta College of Social Workers. “Women in particular are being hit hard by poverty in both two parent households (poverty increased to 8% of two parent households from 3.4%) or as single parents where 16% of all lone parent families are in poverty.”

“This report should be a very serious wake up call to the Redford government that they can’t just sit back and expect the economy alone to support Alberta families,” says Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. “We know that Alberta has the means to invest in a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy that can prevent, reduce and ultimately eliminate poverty in Alberta. What has sadly been lacking is the political will to support Alberta’s families.”

The In This Together: Ending Poverty in Alberta report also presents many recommendations that would benefit not only those individuals and families living in poverty, but will have a very positive impact on strengthening our communities and our economy.

-30 –

Media Contacts:
John Kolkman – Edmonton Social Planning Council, 780 423-2031 (ext 350)
Lori Sigurdson – Alberta College of Social Workers, 780 421-1168
Bill Moore-Kilgannon – Public Interest Alberta, 780 993-3736 (cell)

The full report is available hereand on all three websites:
www.pialberta.org             www.acsw.ab.ca             www.edmontonsocialplanning.ca

“Whether planning programs or developing policies, timely accurate information is critical to informed decision-making,” said Susan Morrissey, the ESPC’s Executive Director.  “The objective of Tracking the Trends is to be a one-stop resource for identifying and analyzing a broad range of social and economic trends in Edmonton,” she added.

•    A steep rise in poverty in our community. The number of children living in poverty in the metro Edmonton area jumped from 16,000 in 2006 to 41,000 in 2009 (p. 57);

•    Many people in Edmonton lost their jobs especially among recent immigrants, youth and Aboriginal people (p. 16).  This led by the end of 2009 to a tripling of the number of Edmontonians drawing employment insurance benefits (p. 65);

•    After a few years of increases beyond inflation, family incomes dropped in 2009 (p. 38);

•    There was also a significant increase in social assistance caseloads (p. 64) and in food bank use (p. 30). These are also indicators of economic distress.

“Our community is not immune from the growing gap in incomes and wealth,” Kolkman noted. “Income inequality between Alberta families has increased steadily in the past 20 years, and took a further jump in 2009 during the recent recession (p. 52).  In other words, Alberta’s economy is lifting the yachts more rapidly than the canoes and the row boats.”

Kolkman said the report also finds many positive trends:

•    In 2009, government income transfers reduced by 44% the number of children that otherwise fall below the poverty line(p. 62);

•     So far in 2011, Edmonton job growth has been strong (p. 13);

•    Although it will soon be the lowest in the country, the Alberta government recently lifted its freeze on the minimum wage (p. 41);

•    There is steady improvement in educational attainment as measured by high school completion. However, over one in five young adults fail to complete high school within five years showing more progress is needed (p. 10);

•    Despite the attention focused on the record number of homicides in 2011, Edmonton’s overall rates for both violent crime and property crime continue to decline (page 106).

Tracking the Trends 2011 also includes a special feature on Edmonton’s increasing diversity (p. 70).  “Growing numbers on immigrants and non-permanent residents is making Edmonton a more ethnically, racially and linguistically diverse city.   This increasing diversity creates integration challenges but also many opportunities for Edmonton in this rapidly globalizing and shrinking world,” Kolkman emphasized.

•    As immigrants get more settled, they tend to relocate from lower income to middle and higher income neighbourhoods; 

•    The maps show that South Asians tend to prefer living in Southeast Edmonton, and those of Arabic origins in North End neighbourhoods.  Overall, the data shows visible minority populations live in neighbourhoods throughout the City;

•    Second generation immigrants are even more likely than their parents to live in neighbourhoods throughout  the City; and

•     Neither immigrants or those from visible minority backgrounds are disproportionately concentrated in lower income neighbourhoods.

Tracking the Trends 2011 combines 25 key indicators into a Social Health Index (p. 111). “Edmonton’s economic roller coaster is reflected in the index which peaked in 2008, declined sharply in 2009, began recovering in 2010, with further recovery projected for 2011. The bottom line is a 17.7% improvement in Edmonton’s social health since 1995,” Kolkman concluded.  

For more information contact: John Kolkman This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , Research Coordinator
(780) 423-2031 x 350

To view entire document CLICK Here.

website: www.edmontonsocialplanning.ca

Media Release
June 15, 2011

The Edmonton Social Planning Council (ESPC) released data compiled by Statistics Canada confirming that the recent recession caused a dramatic increase in poverty in Alberta in 2009.  Edmonton was particularly hard hit by this poverty spike. “According to Statistics Canada, the number of Albertans living below the Market Basket Measure of Low Income increased from 210,000 in 2008 to 353,000 in 2009, a 68% increase,” said John Kolkman, the ESPC’s Research Coordinator.  “The number of Alberta children living in low income increased from 60,000 to 105,000 between 2008 and 2009, a 75% increase.”

Kolkman noted that the numbers for metro Edmonton are even worse.  “One in eight people (12%) in Edmonton (144,000) lived in poverty in 2009.  Almost one in five (19.2%) children lived in poverty.  This translates into 51,000 children in our community.

“While the recent recession caused poverty to rise in most of the country, nowhere were the increases as dramatic as in our province or region,” Kolkman emphasized.  “After a decade of slow declines in poverty rates, this sudden spike underlines the need for urgent action.”

“Most other provinces are working with their communities on positive solutions involving real targets and timelines to reduce poverty.  While the city and province deserve to be commended for their work on eliminating homelessness, this new data shows a broader effort to tackle poverty is needed as well.”

Kolkman called on all Alberta political parties and leadership candidates to make poverty reduction a top priority.  “A good place to start would be investing in a refundable Alberta Child Benefit to supplement existing federal child tax benefits.  Other provinces like Ontario and Manitoba are finding child tax benefits to be a very effective way to reduce child and family poverty,” he concluded.
 

The Edmonton Social Planning Council and Public Interest Alberta released a new report that shows 53,000 Alberta children lived below Statistics Canada’s low-income cut-off (after-tax) in 2008, and that number is probably higher today due to the effects of the recession on our economy.

“It is just plain wrong that in one of the wealthiest parts of the world we have so many children that are struggling in poverty,” said Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. “Other provinces with fewer resources are working together with their communities to come up with many different solutions, timelines and real achievable targets to address this situation. Certainly it is ‘Time for Action’ here in Alberta as well.”

“The report clearly shows that we need to do much more than wait for the economy to rebound,” says John Kolkman, Research Coordinator for the Edmonton Social Planning Council. “The majority of children living in poverty (53.8%) lived in families where the combined work activity equalled full-time for the full year.”

“The good news is that a number of government programs do make a real difference. Government transfer programs lifted 36% of children above the low-income cut off in 2008 (up from 25% in 1989),” says Kolkman. “The bad news is that many important programs are being cut or scaled back and we see increasing social assistance case loads, up 45% from two years earlier (October 2010 statistic). Alberta food bank use in 2010 is at a 12 year high.”

“We are very pleased to see a growing number of people who want to see Alberta adopt a strategy to reduce, prevent and eliminate poverty in Alberta,” says Bill Moore-Kilgannon. “Many municipal, business and community leaders strongly support the unanimous recommendation of the Standing Committee on the Economy to establish a designed-in-Alberta poverty reduction strategy.

-30-

For more information contact:
John Kolkman, Research Coordinator, Edmonton Social Planning Council
(780) 423-2031 x350

website: www.edmontonsocialplanning.ca

or

Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Executive Director, Public Interest Alberta
(780) 423-2031 x 350

For a free copy of the report, click on the image below.