Kendall Worth: Losing hope
Kendall reports on meeting Lori and Dave (not their real names), a couple struggling to get by on income assistance and faced with isolation.
Kendall reports on meeting Lori and Dave (not their real names), a couple struggling to get by on income assistance and faced with isolation.
Kendall Worth raises the alarm about an unusually high number of income assistance clients who have seen their shelter allowances cut.
Kendall Worth on annual reviews, the stress, the humiliation, and the importance of staying calm, cool and collected. Bring a friend or an advocate, he says.
Kendall Worth recently went door to door in Halifax Chebucto with Gary Burrill, MLA and leader of the Nova Scotia NDP. They were looking for support for the petition against the EI clawbacks. “It was a great day out and there was lots of support at the doors,” Kendall writes.
Kendall Worth finds it difficult not to get frustrated with Community Services’ lack of progress in making things better for people on Income Assistance.
Kendall Worth on romance, poverty and a man on social assistance and a woman talking on a bus. “The woman asked, so why are you not married and have kids?.”
Kendall Worth continues his awesome reporting on the individual lives of people on welfare. Meet William, who lives with mental health issues and is on social assistance. A double whammy of stigma.
Kendall tells the story of Dorothy (not her real name), a young woman who with help from family and friends managed to overcome a severe depression while on social assistance.
Most articles about poverty focus on the obvious things, lack of money, bills that pile up, dealing with Community Services and landlords, and so on. Kendall for a long time now has covered these issues, but he also writes about about some of the less obvious hurdles in the lives of people living in poverty. Here he writes about his idea on how to deal with loneliness and social isolation that so many people who live in poverty face on a daily basis.
Some people on social assistance have jobs, and while you work you are entitled to keep a portion of the money you earn. However employment insurance (EI) benefits and self-employed earnings get clawed back at 100%. Kendall has long said that’s not fair, and now there is a petition you can sign and the NDP is supporting it.