A low-income working parent opts out of the office holiday gift swap because that money is needed to buy dinner for the family.
A school requirement for matching clothes at a winter concert keeps a child at home. New clothes are just too expensive.
That’s how tight finances are for many capital region families, say Burnside Gorge Community Association staff working with families in need.
Greater Victoria might have the lowest unemployment rate in the country — 3.3 per cent in November — but that doesn’t mean much to families literally counting small change to balance ultra-tight budgets.
They live in a place where housing costs are among the highest in the country, where it’s difficult to find a place to rent with a tight 0.7 vacancy rate, and even more challenging to find an affordable rental home.
At the community association at 471 Celcelia Rd., Leann Finlay, team leader of integrated family services, and Linda Marcinkiewicz, family self-sufficiency program manager and family adviser, see myriad challenges facing low-income families, many with a single parent. Some are on government assistance, others are working poor. Anxiety and stress are constants.
Families count on a network of agencies in the capital region, such as the food bank at the Mustard Seed Street Church.
They often stop in at the community association for a weekly Thursday meal. In October, 178 children came in for meals with their families, Finlay said.
And while many of us in the community help out this time of year, the reality is that it is a year-round juggling job for families to try to stretch limited dollars.
A parent may have “to choose between paying your rent or buying groceries for your family,” Finlay said.
In the past 15 years, Marcinkiewicz has been seeing people with larger debts, sometimes from paying for post-secondary education.
“The debt load is huge for people.”
And while our low unemployment rate looks good, it doesn’t necessarily translate into larger incomes. As well, casual or low-paying jobs may not have benefits, Finlay said.
Prices continually climb. Victoria’s consumer price index rose by 1.6 per cent in October over the same month in 2016.
The national consumer price index has increased every year since 1997, Statistics Canada says.
There’s a Catch-22 in the working world because if a parent starts earning above certain levels, they can see cutbacks in subsidies in child care and housing, putting them below what they would have received on government assistance, say Marcinkiewicz and Finlay.
“As their income goes up, their subsidies go down.”
Local centres, including Burnside Gorge, recommend families in need receive fresh fruit and vegetables every two weeks for an entire year through the Gift of Good Food program.
The program is run out of the Fernwood Neighbourhood Resource Group. The goal this season is to raise $75,000 to supply 150 families.
Half of the produce provided is local, said Kathryn Juricic, Gift of Good Food Coordinator.
HOW TO DONATE TO THE TIMES COLONIST CHRISTMAS FUND
• Go to timescolonist.com/donate. That takes you to the Canada Helps site, which is open 24 hours a day and provides an immediate tax receipt.
• Mail a cheque, payable to the Times Colonist Christmas Fund Society, to the Times Colonist Christmas Fund, 2621 Douglas St., Victoria V8T 4M2.
• Use your credit card by phoning 250-995-4438 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., Monday through Friday. Outside those hours, messages will be accepted.
