Poverty rates in Chilliwack are on the rise: report

Poverty is on the rise in Chilliwack.

Rents have skyrocketed at twice the rate of inflation. Homeless numbers spiked more than 200 per cent over the last count. One in five Chilliwack kids lives in poverty, and Indigenous children are 40 per cent more likely to be poor.

These are among the findings from a Poverty & Chilliwack report presented to council Tuesday by Joel Robertson-Taylor, researcher with the Chilliwack Social Research and Planning Council.

The report highlights the contributing factors of poverty in Chilliwack as phase one of the project.

Phase two is mapping out a poverty strategy for Chilliwack.

“Chilliwack’s poverty rates have increased quite significantly as of late, and the cost of living continues to increase,” Robertson-Taylor noted during his presentation.

Some of the “biggest housing concerns” the researcher cited: not enough seniors’ housing; the lack of protections for renters; and the lack of subsidized housing.

Mayor Ken Popove thanked the researcher for providing some “sobering facts” to consider.

“We have been working on these issues,” Popove said, reminding folks that two supportive modular housing projects are coming on-line soon to bring 92 people off the streets.

Coun. Jason Lum said he was eager to read the full report but stressed that Chilliwack is “certainly still recognized” as one of the “most affordable” cities to live in anywhere in B.C., with the lowest property taxes.

Reviewing TogetherBC, the province’s first ever poverty reduction plan, Lum said he noticed that some of the “key performance indicators” that Chilliwack has excelled at include partnering with the province on subsidized housing, improving transit, seniors’ housing, and youth housing.

“So what I don’t want to have happen is for people to think the city is not advancing on many of these issues that are out there,” Coun. Lum said.

Rather than Chilliwack drafting its own poverty reduction strategy, the councillor said he’d rather see Chilliwack monitor and work with the provincial plan, with a mechanism to report back.

“We simply don’t have the jurisdiction to change income assistance rates,” Lum said. “There are huge factors that only the provincial government can play a part in.”

The report covered the income measures of poverty, as well as those from lived experience.

“Those who grow up in poverty are far more likely to stay in poverty,” Robertson-Taylor stated, which is something his generation knows, he remarked, having watched parents’ generation struggle to just to hold on to what they have.

Other big concerns noted were the “living wage” required to live in Chilliwack, which works out to $17.40/hour based on two parents with two children working 35 hours a week, 52 weeks a year.

“This is substantially higher than minimum wage, and even the $15/hour or less that a quarter of all paid employees across British Columbia make,” Robertson-Taylor said.

“The cost of housing has largely contributed to annual increases to the living wage.”

Poverty & Chilliwack Report Dec 2018 by Jennifer Feinberg on Scribd