Access to Welfare
In recent years, BC’s welfare ministry has radically altered its service delivery model in ways that have made it very difficult for the most marginalized people in the province to access basic services (i.e. closing ministry offices and reducing office hours, providing the majority of services over a centralized phone line, placing arbitrary limits on phone call length, requiring that the lengthy initial application be completed online).
The BC Poverty Reduction Coalition has released a video of first-hand experience of what these changes mean for people.
Together, these changes create serious barriers for the most vulnerable people in the province to access essential funding for their basic needs. Individuals receiving income assistance have very little money. Many live in unstable housing and some are homeless. This means that many do not own a phone, and many that do own phones use “pay as you go” plans that run out quickly. Most income assistance recipients do not own a computer and many are not computer literate. For those that do have a computer, few can afford internet access. Our work in this area aims to highlight and challenge the incongruence between the ministry’s current service delivery model and the lives of the people that the system should be serving.
In addition to overall system design, we are also working on specific issues related to access to welfare, including the following:
Access to immediate assistance where there is an urgent need for food, shelter, or medical attention
Access to interpretation services
Simplifying the application for income assistance and disability assistance