On Assistance, Can Work: Employment and Income Generation in Vancouver s Downtown Eastside

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1 Skoll Global Challenge Research Analysis Report On Assistance, Can Work: Employment and Income Generation in Vancouver s Downtown Eastside BACKGROUND While Vancouver is ranked the third most liveable city in the world, it is also one of the most expensive cities in which to live. Surrounded by affluent neighborhoods, the Downtown Eastside (DTES) is one of the most concentrated districts of poverty in the world, where a diverse group of residents experience many complex challenges such as homelessness, housing instability, mental health, addictions, and unemployment. A few important statistics 1 : - The unemployment rate in the DTES is around 12 percent, double the rate for the rest of Vancouver. - In 2002, only 13 percent of DTES residents were employed in the neighborhood. - Almost half of the DTES population receives provincial income assistance (over 8700 people). 2 RESEARCH INSIGHTS The following sections highlight our main insights regarding the current employment challenges for DTES residents as well as the existing interventions intended to respond to these challenges. BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT We identified a variety of barriers to traditional employment for residents of the DTES: - Disability and/or poor physical health - Mental health and addiction - Lack of employment skills, experience and/or education - Intergenerational trauma as a result of ongoing colonialism - Structural poverty leading to food and housing insecurity, limited access to employmentappropriate clothing, personal hygiene products - Disincentives to work for fear of losing income assistance support and/or experiencing clawbacks on assistance cheques CURRENT GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS The British Columbia Employment and Assistance Program is BC s current income assistance program, designed to help people move from assistance to employment, and to provide income assistance to those who are unable to fully participate in the workforce. 1 Unfortunately, some of the data is outdated because of the abolishment of the long-form census in It has since been reintroduced, but data from the most recent census has yet to be released. 2 Sixty-four percent of these recipients are on disability assistance, with the remaining 37 percent on temporary assistance, which can also be called welfare. 1

2 Identified gaps: - Monthly welfare rates are only $610/month, most of which goes to rent, leaving very little for other necessities. This rate has not been indexed to inflation and still holds recipients at 60% under BC s poverty line. - Any income earned through employment beyond $200/month is subject to a 100% clawback, dollar-for-dollar from a person s assistance cheque. 3 This acts as a disincentive to working and reporting income because people are afraid of losing their assistance. - The system is hard to access because service provision is primarily online or over the phone. Recipients report negative experiences with income assistance workers who seem to be scripted and are often unhelpful. 4 - These poor interactions have led to a lack of trust in the system. This contributes to fear of reporting any income due to worries of being cut off assistance. 5 - Recipients are not given information or tools to navigate the system and are not informed of their rights. In 2012, employment services in BC were consolidated and contracts were awarded to a select number of NGOs across the province to become Work BC Centres. Work BC is the provincial government s employment program and in the DTES, there is one Work BC contract holder. Income assistance recipients are often referred to Work BC where they must cooperate with an employment worker to find work. If they do not comply, they are at risk of losing their assistance. Identified gaps: - A recent evaluation of the program corroborated by the community suggests that Work BC is not equipped to properly support individuals with multiple barriers to employment. - The 2012 consolidation resulted in many specialized employment programs losing their funding, limiting options for more needs-based employment support. - Complex eligibility criteria for various Work BC programs has resulted in inflexible service provision and the inability for certain people to participate in programs. - Even though the services are administered through an NGO, Work BC is still seen to be a government entity, therefore there is diminished trust in their program and employees. - In 2016, the DTES Work BC location showed a large surplus, suggesting inefficiencies in program spending. - The inflexible, singular funding stream limits the ability for other employment supports to obtain financial support from the government (e.g., social enterprise). The BC Jobs Plan aims to support long-term job creation and is the government s go-to plan when challenged by the community and advocates about the high rate of poverty in BC 6. 3 Due to a reporting lag, this deduction happens two months after a person has worked, making it very hard to plan. 4 In fact, several people reported the security guards at the income assistance office to be more helpful! 5 Only 3.5% of people who are on basic welfare reported any income to the government in BC is the only province in Canada that does not have a Poverty Reduction Plan to combat poverty and unemployment a plan that would have greater implications for low income individuals. 2

3 Identified gaps: - It is a neoliberal market-driven solution that is tailored towards infrastructure development and resource extraction. Despite having social innovation as part of the plan, the community claims that innovation funding is inflexible and does not meet its needs. - In practice, this plan only serves to bolster jobs for those who are already in the formal labour market and does little to support individuals with barriers to employment. - Despite attempting to address employment for people with disabilities, only half of people with disabilities in BC participate in the labour force. - The model is not place-based, and therefore is unable to support the unique needs of the DTES. COMMUNITY-BASED SOLUTIONS The DTES is a hub for social enterprises 7 and NGOs that engage in social hiring 8 by offering supportive employment opportunities, training and programming to residents of the DTES who are on income assistance. Organizations that engage in social hiring appear to exist on a spectrum from informal and less structured, to more formal labour market engagement. These organizations appear to fill some of the gaps in the government s solutions to unemployment by: - Offering community alternatives to government programming where people are more comfortable going, and feel more supported working; - Being advocates on behalf of their workers for things like accessing the income assistance system, and; - Engaging with government to inform them of the realities in the neighborhood and push for policy change Identified gaps: - Most social enterprises face a double bottom line, which affects their capacity and ability to support more employees. This means they must balance their social and financial goals. These organizations often rely on their own profits to support these goals because the provincial government only funds employment programming through Work BC. If they do receive grants, these grants are often short-term and project-based. - Despite filling an advocacy role, social enterprise employers and NGOs do not have access to accessible and reliable information on the complex income assistance system. - These organizations try to engage with government, but it often becomes a one-way communication with little government response. 7 Businesses operated by non-profit organizations with the dual purpose of earning income from sales of programs and/or services and creating social value 8 Providing job opportunities for people who face barriers to traditional employment. 3

4 WHAT IS WORK: THE INCOME GENERATION CONTINUUM The income generation continuum pictured in Figure 1 is a way in which the community describes the many formal and informal income generating opportunities that exist in the DTES. Figure 1: Income Generation Continuum Adapted from: Local Economic Development Lab Annual Report 2015/16 One of our main findings is that the government s definition of work is quite different than the community s definition of work. The government expects that individuals on income assistance find full-time, sustainable employment, which would be found on the far right of the continuum. 910 Despite this, it is still expected that income earned through volunteer stipends and informal work be reported to the government; not reporting these could mean being cut from assistance. The community sees work in a much broader capacity, with benefits that are more than just financial. For many people experiencing barriers, full-time employment is not an option in their current circumstances, and; interpreting work through this continuum attempts to meet people where they are at and nurture their employment growth from one point in the continuum to the other. Many of the community-based informal employment options offered by social enterprises and NGOs help to address barriers at various points in the continuum, but are often blocked by policies like clawbacks and the fear of reporting income. This community-based work has many positive externalities beyond the financial benefits. These include: - Individual benefits like self-worth, social inclusion, improved health and hygiene, cessation of drug use, economic empowerment and work experience. - Community benefits like social capital and network building. - Economic benefits like increased local production and consumption and reduced costs of emergency care, homelessness and other social services. 9 The same expectation does not apply to individuals with disabilities. 10 Sustained for longer than six months. 4

5 OPPORTUNITIES AND LEVERS FOR CHANGE SYSTEM-LEVEL: Using Transition Management to Change the Definition of Work A long-term, systemic opportunity for change can be conceptualized through transition management. Transition management is a governance approach for tackling complex issues that aims to enable and guide social and political transformations through the three levels pictured in Figure 2. Figure 2: Transition Management Adapted from: Loorbach (2007) With this model, we seek to shift the paradigm of work in society. Currently the community is trying to engage with government, but it is reluctant to adapt. Thus, the way that society sees employment remains unchanged, which has led to stigma associated with income assistance and unemployment 11. If we can expand interactions between these levels, creating pathways of learning from the community, we can change the way society views employment. With this, the government would be better equipped to engage in more innovative change to recognize that work can be conceptualized as more than just a full-time job Of course, the perception is that people who are for example, volunteering for stipends are unemployed, which has a negative connotation and elicits responses like why don t they just get a job? 12 In fact, across the board, precarious work in contract and gig economies is ever-increasing. This is not just specific to supportive community-based employment in the DTES. 5

6 GOVERNMENT-LEVEL: Increase and Diversify Funding Streams The current inflexible and singular funding stream for employment services in BC makes it almost impossible for employment innovation. This funding could be diversified to reach social enterprises and NGOs that are already creating innovative solutions to low labour force participation and income insecurity, and already have trusting relationships with DTES residents. The one-size-fits-all approach ignores key actors that have experience supporting people with barriers and effectively silences the community s voice and ability to contribute to systemic change. COMMUNITY-LEVEL: Partnerships between Industry and Community While there are many projects and initiatives that can be done at a community level, connecting industry that is supported by the BC Jobs Plan with DTES residents and organizations is a great way to bridge the gap between the government s approach to job creation and community capacity. For example, we look to Toronto s recent successful Regent Park Development initiative that heavily involved Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs). CBAs create actionable ways to support infrastructure development and social impact by making commitments on behalf of industry to the community through social hiring. With the continuous development of the DTES, there are many opportunities to implement CBAs. NEXT STEPS: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT All the identified opportunities for changed involve the important step of community engagement and valuing of experiential knowledge. To fill the identified gaps, government and society must engage with and learn from the community. This is beginning to happen with regards to drug use and addiction in the current overdose crisis and can easily be applied to income generation and employment. 6