Raising the minimum wage, building affordable housing and providing access to high-quality child care are among the recommendations to raise working people out of poverty proposed in a report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The report, funded by the United Way and titles "Working Poverty in Metro Vancouver," paints a picture of working people who are struggling to make ends meet on annual salaries of $33,936 or less for a family of four, including growing numbers of people living in Coquitlam and Port Moody.
Growing job insecurity, low-paying part-time jobs without benefits and contract work are among the financial issues at the same time housing, food and other necessities are increasingly more expensive.
"Street homelessness is the most acute and obvious face of poverty but it's only the tip of the iceberg," the report by Iglika Ivanova states. "Hidden poverty and economic insecurity are serious problems in British Columbia and research suggests that poverty is costing the province between $8.1 billion and $9.2 billion a year."
The report notes that the region's booming economy relies on low-paid workers to provide security, catering, cleaning, administration and other services, and people employed in those industries face some of the most expensive housing in Canada.
Vancouver's suburbs, often considered bastions of leafy, comfortable affluence, have growing pockets of poverty, the report states, noting that Coquitlam and Port Moody have seen growth in poverty rates above 30% between 2006 and 2012.
POVERTY IN THE TRI-CITIES
Rates of working poverty in the Tri-Cities according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report "Working Poverty in Metro Vancouver":
• Coquitlam 8%
• Port Coquitlam 6%
• Port Moody 5.5%
