Minimum-wage Workers
Can’t Afford Housing:
Study

Hourly wage of more than $10 needed to live in
Canada’s largest cities

Norman Ed Baskerville, The Martlet (University of Victoria)

VICTORIA (CUP)—The minimum
hourly wage in BC is not enough to pay
the rent, according to a recent Canadian
Housing and Renewal Association study.

An hourly wage of more than $10
is required to afford a bachelor suite in
10 of Canada’s largest cities, the study
found. A $10.79 hourly wage is needed
for a bachelor suite in Victoria, and a
single parent would need to earn double
the current minimum hourly wage of
$8 to afford a two- or three-bedroom
apartment.

Rent levels have risen for all 28
Canadian metropolitan areas, making
housing unaffordable for minimum-
wage-earning employees working 35 to
40 hours per week. The study concluded
that the hourly minimum wage necessary
to afford housing in Victoria is the sixth
highest in Canada. Toronto, Vancouver
and Calgary top the list.

Employment in BC grew by nine
per cent between 2000 and 2005,
while the number of minimum-wage
earners increased by 36 per cent. British
Columbia currently has the second-
highest number of people working for
minimum wage in the country, ranking
behind only Newfoundland.

“The [CHRA] minimum wage study
is another example of how totally
unaffordable housing is becoming in

British Columbia,” said Martha Lewis,
executive director of the Tenant
Resource and Advisory Centre, a
provincial non-profit housing rights
organization.

Although the minimum wage hasn’t
increased since 2001, the provincial
government guarantees landlords rent
increases at the inflation rate plus two per
cent each year, according to Lewis.

“Housing should be a basic right, yet
we're getting to a point where even full-
time employment is not enough to keep
someone from becoming homeless,”
Lewis said.

Rob Fleming, NDP provincial
representative for Victoria-Hillside, said
the provincial Liberal government’s
neglect of affordable housing for low-
income earners is a big part of the
problem.

“Unfortunately, the government’s
new housing plan took six years to start
and only offered a timid rent supplement
and no restoration programs like the
1990s Homes for BC program that had a
hands-on, brick-and-mortar component,”
Fleming said.

The new strategy, Housing Matters
BC, unveiled in October, promises to
provide $40 million in rental aid to
working families with annual incomes
below $20,000.

 

Earlier this month, BC NDP Leader
Carole James urged the Liberals to raise
the minimum wage in order to address
the needs of citizens struggling to make
ends meet. James also said salaries for
elected provincial representatives have
a wage-indexing mechanism built in to
account for inflation, and minimum-wage
earners should receive similar increases.

Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C.
Federation of Labour, has suggested
that the provincial government introduce
legislation where increases to minimum
wage are indexed annually in relation to
the rate of inflation, similar to the system
used in Washington.

Fleming said there is some merit to
indexing minimum wage to inflation
but said the best approach is to set up
an all-party commission consisting of
economists, labour market forecasters
and others qualified to do a proper
minimum-wage survey, as was done
leading up to the last increase.

A poll initiated by the BC Federation
of Labour in November found 79.3
per cent of British Columbians polled
support raising the minimum hourly
wage to $10. Of those polled, 73.5 per
cent supported the elimination of the $6
training wage, paid to those with no job
experience for their first 500 hours, that
was introduced in 2001.

 

Trailblazing
Nursing
Grads
Celebrate
at Douglas
College

~ Douglas College Media Release

C. erupted when the last
student of the Bachelor of Science in
Nursing (BSN) program crossed the
stage at Douglas College’s inaugural
Winter graduation held on Monday.

It was a historic event - the first time
Douglas College awarded its own
bachelor’s degrees to a group of
graduates.

“Congratulations. Every one of us
has had our struggles and doubts but
we have prevailed. I know we will go
on to be leaders in our profession and I
would be privileged to have any one of
you care for me,” said nursing graduate
Misty Dawn Boudreau, the program’s
first valedictorian.

Douglas College has long offered
nursing and other health care education.
Its Bachelor’s in Nursing was one of
the first degrees approved in 2004 when
new provincial legislature allowed
colleges to grant career-specific
degrees. In addition, the college now
offers degrees in Psychiatric Nursing
and Therapeutic Recreation.

“The College, Nursing faculty,
staff, and students are delighted that
Douglas College can now award this
BSN degree, the first of its kind at a
Canadian college. Douglas College
has always been a leader in nursing
education,” said Joy Holmwood, Dean
of Health Sciences.

Douglas’ bachelor’s degree program
was established to prepare students
for new provincial regulations,
requiring degree-level training to enter
the nursing profession. This year’s
graduates can now write the National
Licensure Exam and then apply for
provincial nursing licensure.

“Granting these baccalaureate
degrees and giving current nursing
professionals educational options
continues our commitment to
graduating excellent health care
professionals,” says Holmwood.

More information about the
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
program is available at www.
douglascollege.ca/programs/nursing.

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