A Surrey MLA is calling his housing “seven-star” compared to some of the places in his price range while on welfare.
Jagrup Brar, MLA for Surrey-Fleetwood, is living for a month on a welfare rate of $610 after taking up the “Welfare Challenge” put forward by a group called Raise the Rates.
Brar invited the press into his Newton accommodation on Thursday.
The 12′ x 12′ room in a house will cost $375 a month, he says, adding it’s a far cry above anything he’s seen at that rate in the past few days.
Brar’s room has a TV and a fridge along with a two-seat sofa. He has a twin bed fitted with a Winnie the Pooh blanket from his kids.
Finding an appropriate place to live wasn’t easy, he says.
One of the first places he looked at was in Whalley, which had a good room available, however they wanted $500 a month.
When they heard of Brar’s monetary constraints, they showed him another room.
It was a closet, Brar says, adding it was a three-by-seven-foot room which fit a twin bed and nothing more.
The person who will be occupying that North Surrey room will be coming out of surgery in a couple of days.
During his search for accommodation, Brar found landlords that were making $20,000 a month “on the backs of the poor,” and called the practice “unacceptable and immoral.”
Brar is sharing the home in the 80000 block of 136A Street with six other people, all who pay an average of $375 a month. Internet, cable and utilities are included.
Now that he has something rented, Brar’s next big challenge will be making sure he has enough to eat.
He went out Wednesday evening expecting to spend $30 for enough food for the remainder of the week.
He came back with a litre of milk, tofu, green onions, a box of cereal, a small jar of peanut butter, noodles, tomatoes, carrots, apples and bread.
Total cost: $33.
He now has $67 left, and 27 more days left in the month-long experiment.
Even if that amount of food lasts four days, he will be out of money in a week-and-a-half.
He fully knows the limitations of his experiment, realizing daily he has a family to return to in February.
That said, he feels the experiment has already altered his thinking.
“My life has changed knowing what life is like on 610.”
