Kendall Worth, who is on social assistance, continues his review of the welfare changes that Community Services is working on. People on welfare will be pigeonholed according to their skills and ability to work, and that’s a scary idea, he writes.
Kendall Worth, who knows all too well what it is like to be on social assistance, is puzzled about the results of the so-called First Voice consultation conducted by Community Services. “Clients I personally talk to tell me that they got depressed and gave up.”
Councillors on the Halifax Transportation Committee are recommending that the bus pass discount pilot project be expanded. The program allows low income Haligonians to buy a bus pass for half the price. Some say access to transportation is a basic necessity, and the City could do much better.
Community Services budget numbers back up what a lot of people on social assistance and poverty advocates have been saying for years. The department is cutting back on bus passes and other travel expenses.
Kendall Worth, inspired by a documentary we recently featured, makes a passionate plea to get serious about inclusion and community living. Kendall lives with several invisible disabilities, and he knows all too well what he is speaking of.
Meet Emma (not her real name), who is on welfare and lives with chronic pain. Her doctor thinks she should get a chiropractic bed, but Community Services doesn’t believe her doctor. Meanwhile, Emma’s appeal got misfiled, and Emma is still waiting.
Kendall Worth on the need for a 24/7 centre where people can go when social isolation is getting them down.
Another inventive suggestion by our regular contributor Kendall Worth. Why not give that $2 million Community Services spends on consultants to the group he chairs? They are better qualified to make recommendations on how to fix social assistance than anybody. After all, it’s the life they live. And they could use the money.
After learning more about Community Services planned changes to the way it delivers welfare the Benefits Reform Action Group sent a letter to all MLAs. They’re very worried about the direction the ESIA transformation project is taking.
A complaint by a group of welfare recipients who live with disabilities and require special diets is going to court this Thursday. Their special needs allowances have not kept up with ever rising costs, they say, and they want to force the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission to conduct a tribunal.