Good morning, Chair, Vice-Chairs, and committee members.
My name is Laura Cattari, and I am speaking to you today on behalf of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction. In May 2005, the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction was co-convened by the Hamilton Community Foundation and the City of Hamilton. It was born out of concern for a 20% poverty rate affecting community health, our economic and social development, and the well-being of thousands of our residents.
Since then, we have engaged diverse stakeholders, consulted widely, reviewed findings from local consultations on poverty-related issues, and explored best practices. The Hamilton Roundtable has become an organization that helps drive community change and action. We have come to realize poverty is complex; it is impossible to isolate a single approach that will be a cure-all for poverty. Furthermore, pre-employment issues are a significant barrier to gaining meaningful employment.
The stabilization of individuals is not a matter of handouts but investment in critical care. From job loss to domestic violence, poverty is often a reflection of crisis in a person's life. Tackling poverty needs to address incomes and expenditures in many aspects of daily living. Taking that into account the following recommendations in the areas of income security, wages, financial literacy, employment, child care, health care, and affordable housing are outlined.
In times of need, we believe supports for individuals should not be a source of trauma in and of themselves, yet because of part-time hours and short-term contracts, only one in five workers are qualifying for employment insurance in Hamilton. Ensuring that people who work low-wage jobs, short-term contracts, multiple part-time positions, or irregular hours are able to access employment insurance means less stress and the need to look for new housing in times of unemployment. Conversely, lack of affordable housing has left people living so precariously that they have lost employment after a chain of unfortunate incidences.
Despite federal assistance programs, poverty among seniors is still increasing. Currently 11,000 of our 75,000 seniors in Hamilton live in poverty. Yes, they also seek part-time employment. CPP indexation of retirement, disability, and survivor benefits have not kept up with food, shelter, and basic goods.
Currently CPP disability payouts are low enough to still leave recipients eligible for the Ontario disability support program, which in itself is far below the poverty line. While we encourage people with disabilities to seek appropriate employment, we have an obligation to make sure they are attempting to do so in optimal circumstances that do not further harm their health.
We ask for the immediate expansion of all forms of CPP, ensuring low-income workers are not harmed in it's rollout. Our round table also believes the federal government has a critical role to play by showing leadership in the battle against low-wage work. The federal government could start by increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, but it could go further as well.
The federal government has enormous leverage through its procurement policies to influence low-wage contractors to set a higher standard. Instead of confirming contracts on the basis of the lowest bid, what if we asked ourselves which contractors were paying their employees a living wage, or which contractors are helping to create a healthier society?
In regard to financial literacy, I'd like to relate to you a comment from a caseworker at a local Catholic family services credit counselling office. I was told, “The debt issue is not a matter of budgeting but insufficient income. People are frugal but emergencies arise and along with it, debt.”
The round table has focused instead on payday loans. In a financial emergency, many people with nowhere else to turn seek short-term assistance from one of more than 1,500 payday loan outlets located across Canada. While the financial need is often short term, the implications can be long-lasting.
Over the past 20 years, the payday loan industry has been only too eager to prey on the financial desperation of those living in poverty, particularly the working poor. Consider this, while a $21 fee on $100 of borrowed money may seem like a manageable sum, loans are provided for a very limited time period. Usually two weeks is the maximum term of the loan.
When annualized, the interest rates that lenders are charging is closer to 550%. Many customers fall hundreds, even thousands, of dollars in debt to payday lenders before they know what hit them. We urge the federal government to get back into the business of protecting consumers and once again regulate the payday loan industry by reimposing the 60% criminal interest rate maximum.
Would you like to engage more women in the workforce? That means child care expenses. Only 20% of children aged zero to five have access to regulated child care. In Hamilton, high-priority neighbourhoods don't even have child care centres. According to research undertaken by the past chair of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, in one north Hamilton neighbourhood there were 1,755 children under 12 years old. There were zero licensed child care spaces available in that neighbourhood. Affordable universal child care, with a focus on placing centres in high-priority areas, will see neighbourhoods revitalized.
Finally, we cannot ignore the truth that low-income workers lose their jobs due to illness all the time and that 62% of low-wage, part-time, or contract workers do not have access to private insurance plans. One in four households do not take prescription medications because they cannot afford to. A universal pharmacare program would reduce the cost of prescription drugs and benefit workers with little access to private insurance plans, sparing them from deciding whether to pay for food, shelter, or medication.
Thank you.