Huron Expositor, 2005-10-26, Page 11.�,.�.- _-hlYOttir.
The Huron Expositor • October 26, 2005 Page 11
News
Huron losing families too poor to live here
Cities give more support for the poor, says workshop on responding to local poverty
Susan IHundertmark
Because it's easier to be poor in
the city, Huron County loses at least
one family a month that cannot
afford to stay here.
"I help at least one woman a
month to leave the county with her
children. It breaks my heart but the
city gives them more support and
more infrastructure," Women Today
executive director Pam Hanington
told a workshop on poverty in
Clinton last week.
Called "Building a United
Response to the Reality
of Local Poverty," the
workshop was held at
the Huron County
Health Unit last
Thursday for communi-
ty agencies and social
service providers.
Hanington, a member
of the Huron Social
Justice Coalition, along
with co -presenter Lynne
Harris, shared the
results of statistics
gathered on Huron
County poverty.
Twenty per cent of the
population (12,000 peo-
ple) in Huron County
live at or below the
poverty line, making,
1,000 of them living on
Ontario Works and
1,200 of them living on
the Ontario Disabilities
Support program.
While single people
earn $6,432 a year on
social assistance or
$11,508 on disability,
the poverty line in
Canada for a single per-
son is $19,256.
A family of four (a
couple with two chil-
dren) receives $14,580
on social assistance
while the poverty line in
Canada for that family
is $36,235.
Harris said most fam-
ilies on Ontario Works
have $75 a month left
over after paying $600
in rent and $540 a
month for groceries.
"Because of the cuts to
the social safety net,
people have been forced
to find their essentials
elsewhere. Food banks
started as a symbolic
gesture in Alberta to
shame the government
but now they're desper-
ately needed and there's
a huge network across.
the country," said Hanington.
Harris disputed the commonly -
held belief that it's cheaper to live in
the country.
"A lot of people think you can rent
a farmhouse for $300 but you have
to pay skyhigh prices for heat
because there's usually no insula-
tion and the house needs new win-
dows. And, then you have to be able
to get to town," she said.
Hanington said rental prices are
just as high in most towns as they
are in many cities because there's a
shortage of rental housing.
She added that poverty is worse
in a rural area because there are far
fewer job opportunities and far
lower incomes and less full-time
jobs.
"There are fewer social services in
rural areas as well. There are not
just gaps - there are canyons," she
said.
Rural poverty also presents the
huge challenge of discrimination
because families living on social
assistance become well-known espe-
cially if the situation continues
through several generations.
"You can't help but know people's
names in a small town and people
do discriminate," said Harris.
While the Social Justice Coalition
spent the past year sharing infor-
mation about local poverty with
municipal councils and with Huron -
Bruce MPP Carol Mitchell,
Hanington said most politicians
hadn't been aware of the problem.
"A lot of local politicians had no
idea that we had poverty and what
it looked like," she said.
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