locked in poverty — bc, then and now

locked in poverty — bc, then and now

I wrote this more than a decade ago.

At the time, I was writing about the impact of B.C.’s 2002 welfare cuts on families and children:

Families and children were hit very hard by the welfare cuts of 2002. Almost 1 in 4 children in B.C. lived in poverty. A third of food-bank users were children, and single parents were more than 60% likely to live in poverty.

The 2007 provincial budget increased welfare rates, but it did not solve the underlying problem.

So I went back and looked at the numbers now.

And some of what I found is pretty startling.

Twenty-four years after 2002, B.C. welfare is still not enough to lift people out of poverty.

In 2002, an employable single person receiving welfare had an income equal to 44% of the poverty line.

In 2025?

43%.

Maytree describes this as no improvement in the person's level of poverty over the 24-year period. The person remained below the deep-poverty threshold throughout the entire period.

For a single parent with one child, welfare was 66% of the poverty line in 2002.

In 2025:

64%.

Again, essentially no progress in reducing the depth of poverty over the period.

And this is happening while the cost of housing has changed dramatically.

Rent is not the same problem it was when I wrote that original post.

B.C.'s rental market has become extraordinarily difficult for people with low incomes, and today's regulated annual rent increases are only part of the story. New-market rents can be much higher than what long-term tenants pay, making it extremely difficult for someone who loses housing to find another affordable home.

Then there is food.

In 2024, 24.4% of B.C. households experienced food insecurity.

For children, it was 32.6% — almost one in three.

That was up from 28.8% in 2023.

And then there is the number I find hardest to ignore.

458 people.

According to the B.C. Coroners Service, at least 458 people experiencing homelessness died in B.C. in 2023.

That was a 23% increase from 2022, when there were 373 deaths.

And it was nearly three times the 155 deaths recorded in 2020.

Between 2016 and 2023, the Coroners Service recorded 1,940 deaths of people identified as experiencing homelessness.

These aren't just statistics.

These are people.

So when I see that people are marching on October 10 to end homelessness, I think about how long we have been having this conversation.

I wrote “Locked in Poverty” in 2011.

It is now 2026.

And some things really have improved.

B.C.'s official child-poverty rate is substantially lower than the levels seen in the early 2000s. Governments have increased some benefits, introduced new credits and invested in food programs and housing.

The welfare numbers themselves also show that incomes have increased in real dollars for some households over the long term.

But the crucial question isn't simply:

Are things better than they were in 2002?

It is:

Can a person living on welfare actually afford a home and a basic life in B.C. today?

The answer from the current numbers is uncomfortable.

In 2025, every one of Maytree's four example B.C. welfare households remained below the official poverty line — including the single person, the person with a disability, the single parent with one child, and the couple with two children.

So perhaps “locked in poverty” wasn't such a bad description after all.

I hope I am in Mexico by October 10.

(There's going to be March to End Homelessness.)

Not because I don't care.

Quite the opposite.

I have spent years writing about poverty, homelessness, housing and people being pushed to the margins.

I would simply like, at this point in my life, to find somewhere safe and affordable to live myself.

And I would like to see a day when nobody has to march to demand something as basic as a home.

A home should not be a privilege reserved for people who can afford the price of admission.

— Tina Winterlik © 2026

Originally written as Locked in Poverty — BC — 400,000 People, 2011/2012.