“When they announced the basic income was being cancelled last summer, I was devastated,” she said of the Ford government’s decision to break its election promise and kill the anti-poverty initiative.
“When they told us our last payment would be in March, it seemed like such a long time away,” the Lindsay, Ont., woman said last week. “But this has been the fastest month ever. It came super-lightning fast.”
Bowman is among about 4,000 pilot project participants in Hamilton-Brantford, Thunder Bay and Lindsay who are receiving their last payments Monday. The Star spoke to Bowman and seven others to find out how they plan to spend the money.
Individuals in the three test communities living on less than $34,000 a year and couples with annual incomes under $48,000 were eligible to participate in the three-year experiment launched by the previous Liberal government in April 2017.
The goal was to see if regular payments with few conditions would give people living in poverty the security and opportunity to reach their full potential. The project aimed to measure the basic income’s impact on food security, health, housing, education and employment.
It was also testing whether a basic income would be a simpler and more economical way to deliver social assistance, a program mired in rules and bureaucracy.
Under the pilot project, individuals received up to about $17,000 annually while couples could get up to about $24,000. A top-up of $6,000 was available for those with disabilities.
In addition to fewer rules and surveillance, basic income was more generous than social assistance, which provides an annual income for basic needs and shelter of almost $9,000 for individuals, $13,600 for couples and just over $14,000 for a person with a disability.
According to the only data collected from the experiment before it was cancelled, 46 per cent of participants were receiving social assistance before they enrolled.
Most, including Bowman, who was living on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) due to chronic mental and physical health challenges when she enrolled in the project a year ago, will return to the less generous and more onerous system.
“Under (social assistance) there are so many clawbacks,” Bowman said. “Every time you try to take a step forward, the system always pulls you back.”
Here is how some project participants plan to use their last basic income cheque.
Dana Bowman, a 57-year-old grandmother from Lindsay.
Monthly basic income: $1,916
Last payment will be spent on grocery cards, advance payments for phone and internet, and household basics like toilet paper.
“The basic income gave me more courage to talk about poverty. It gave us a chance to give our input on what works for us instead of (the government) sticking us in boxes that haven’t worked in the past,” she said. “It’s going to be hard to go back to living on just $667 a month for basic needs … and not being able to afford healthy snacks when my grandchildren come to visit.”
Joshua Donald Hewitt, 27, of Thunder Bay, founder of Standup4cleanup, a volunteer organization that picks up trash on city streets.
Monthly basic income: $1,066
Last payment will be spent on getting a driver’s licence and April rent.
“I am hoping a driver’s licence will help open up future job opportunities,” said Hewitt, who was able to upgrade his housing from a room in a house to a bachelor apartment when he joined the pilot project a year ago.
“I was hoping to get my teeth fixed and start saving for a vehicle if the project wasn’t cancelled,” said Hewitt, who had been homeless on and off since he was 19.
“It definitely helped me stabilize my life. It’s helped me see I have potential to do anything and invest in myself and in my future,” he added.
Jessie Golem, a musician and photographer in Hamilton whose 30th birthday is Monday.
Monthly basic income: $700
Last payment will be spent on throwing a birthday “basic income bash” at a local nightclub in support of keeping the idea alive.
“The basic income allowed me to live my dream,” Golem said. “Next month I am going to continue to build my photography business and continue to advocate for the basic income. I would have liked to have had another two years to properly market my business. And without the basic income, I may not make it. But I remain optimistic.”
Grace Hillion, 20, of Lindsay, who is studying broadcast journalism at Durham College.
Monthly basic income: $1,300
Last payment will be spent on tuition for next year and rent for her room in student housing.
“I won’t know about my OSAP (student loan application) until summer, so I’m saving up just in case,” Hillion said. “The basic income allowed me to stay in college, so I hope I can continue.”
Amanda Greer, 30, of Lindsay, a single mother of three children, ages 3, 8 and 10.
Monthly basic income: $1,415
Last payment will be spent on March rent to address a recent eviction notice.
“It’s really been a struggle,” said Greer, who spent about $500 last month in cab fare and meals for her family when she had to take her baby to hospital in Peterborough due to a breathing problem. “My part-time cleaning job has dried up and if I don’t get back on social assistance in April, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Tracey Crosson, 47, of Thunder Bay, who moved to Toronto in January for better medical care.
Monthly basic income: $1,916
Last payment will be spent on credit card debt and advance payments for hydro, phone and internet.
“I need to get ahead of my bills because I am going to be living on $168 after rent (in May),” said Crosson, who has relied on ODSP on and off for the past 20 years due to an accident and will return to the program in April. Her monthly income will drop to just $1,169.
“It’s going to be tight. I need to pay ahead on my bills and get some extra food so I’m not starving. If I don’t do this, I’m either going to be dead or starving in six months.”
Richard Ward, 53, of Brantford, who has a developmental disability and shares an apartment in a supportive housing building.
Monthly basic income: $1,800
Last payment will be spent on filling his freezer with healthy food and saving some for a trip to Disney World in Florida someday.
“I’ve been responsible for him for most of his life because our parents died when we were young,” says Ward’s sister Lisa Merner, 50, who has three children of her own to support.
“Richard has always been on (social) assistance, which isn’t very much. The basic income took the edge off. It provided money to buy healthier food, furniture for his apartment and new clothes instead of used,” she said.
“I want him to use his last payment to stock up on healthy food and pay for activities that he won’t be able to afford when he returns to ODSP,” Merner added.
“But I know he’d like to save the money for a trip to Disney World. And why shouldn’t he? He has always worked,” she said, noting her brother works every summer at the local golf club.
Carmen Lord, 46, of Hamilton, who works part time in a dry-cleaning shop.
Monthly basic income: $1,415
Last payment will be spent on making extra car and auto insurance payments so she doesn’t lose her car.
“When I got the basic income in April (2018) I used the extra money to buy a car so it would be easier to get to work,” said Lord, who had a full-time job at a tech-support company at the time. “When I was laid off last fall, the basic income helped me stay ahead of my bills. But now I’m panicking. If I can’t find a full-time job, I will lose my car.”
Despite losing a January court challenge of the Ford government’s decision to end the research project prematurely, supporters continue to pursue a civil class-action lawsuit against the province for breach of contract, said Lindsay lawyer Mike Perry.
“You don’t just cut people off financially midstream. When an agreement is broken, compensation is paid to make the parties whole,” said Perry, who has been acting pro-bono on behalf of participants.
Toronto law firm Cavalluzzo LLP has recently joined the civil case and together with Perry will be filing a class action for damages in a Lindsay court next month, he said.
Laurie Monsebraaten is a Toronto-based reporter covering social justice.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/03/24/death-knell-for-basic-income-how-participants-will-spend-their-last-cheque.html
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