Things aren’t getting better for the people of BC

Two years ago, The Federation of Community Social Services of BC scoured the news, research, and literature to take a snapshot of what life in BC was like. We wanted to understand how good things were for the people of our province. We also wanted to investigate important aspects of day-to-day life that get overlooked by a government focused on economic prosperity.

Things didn’t look that great. And two years later, they are no better. We have updated these snapshots to prove that point and to help you talk about the state of our province and the things that need to change in order for the people of British Columbia to actually prosper and thrive.

Poverty & Inequality

Despite being one of the wealthiest provinces in the country, 13.2% of the population of BC (595,000 British Columbians) live in poverty. More than 16% of households in northern BC struggle to put food on the table. BC is the only province in Canada without a Poverty Reduction Plan.

Housing & Homelessness

Dealing with the housing crisis in BC would require a doubling of BC Housing’s current operating budget. BC needs to add 5000 subsidized housing units a year for 5 years just to meet the growing need.