Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Downtown......why are "we" there.

 One set of comments that seems to come up all the time, especially in my city are..."Why are they (welfare recipients) always hanging around downtown?"  I guess my first question would be: How do you know they are actually welfare recipients? Did you follow them inside the building and up to the 2nd floor? Ahh then you have no idea if they are just random people or actual clients.

Lets assume for the sake of argument that you are in fact looking at a person on welfare. First of all it is hard to tell us apart from the rest of the population (unless we've been on the system too long in which case I suppose our clothing "could" be starting to fade, tear or wear down) otherwise good luck identifying the species "homo workfareous". Now what?

Well lets see....I'll give you a list of the reasons a member of my club might be "hanging out" downtown.

1. Our worker called or most likely wrote and said that TODAY was the big day of our appointment to make sure we still qualify.
2. We called the IVR line (a line that lets us see how much we are (or are not) going to get for assistance this month based on potential work income etc) and we found out we got cut off. You call and they say you didn't submit your monthly income statement. For those who have been on EI you "might" be familiar with this reporting process, for those of you fortunate enough not to have experienced either program here is a quick explanation.

When you are on assistance from the government, they like to know how much you are making if you manage to find work. They do this to ensure that if you do not deserve benefits...you no longer get them. I am more familiar with workfare so it is that I will explain. When you get your check stub which has your amount that you received with the .10 added to allow you to pick up a buspass from the transit office, there are other papers attached. One is a drug card listing all family members that qualify for medication coverage. (unless you are on EI the workfare program has to cover some medications).

The last paper on this strip is a reporting card. On it you list the income of ANY person in your home. There are spaces for the type of income and you have to report the AMOUNT before and after taxes. They deduct from your check based on your before tax income. So yeah you can get left a bit short since you haven't had taxes deducted yet but they are taking your  money earned based on the higher numbers. IF you fail to turn in this paper on time small rodents will be set loose in your pants. (Just seeing if you were paying attention). Actually they will simply not give you a check for the  next month. You have to come down and turn these papers in by the 16th of the month. So technically the system puts you a bit "behind" in what you are actually have in funds. Oh well, nothings perfect right?

Well it turns out nothing is indeed perfect. Many times you can turn in the report ONLY to have it go missing in the mysterious place where all socks go. If that happens, you have to go down get another card, report the income have all people who earned the money sign it saying that they are telling the truth so help them and they really did earn that much/little that month. It doesn't solve the mystery of where the first report went but that isn't important now is it?

3. As I said before we MUST turn in a report even if the report says 0.00 on it. If we don't turn it in, we don't get assistance the next month.

4. We are there because the computer forgot to put that .10 on the stub so you can go get your buspass and now you need to get a pass at the counter. This happens more often than you'd like to think and when it does it means having to go down and grab a number and wait. Oh but don't go there in the morning, you can't pick up ANYTHING in the morning, only after 1pm.

5. They goofed and didn't issue a check and now you have to go in to get a new check. Well this one isn't happening as often anymore thanks to the direct deposit form. They now just drop things straight into your bank account.

6. There is a "job search" office there where you can get photocopies of your resume done, use a computer to check for work and so forth. You can't make anymore phone calls to potential employers nor return any either since that ship has sailed. (read here they took the telephone line out for us to do that).  Explains that whole cell phone thing sometimes doesn't it?

So that is the "usual" list of Why oh why we don't just stay away from the central part of the city. There is talk about putting hubs around the city but I for one live nearer to the center so I hope they always have a place there. I'd hate to have to waste an hour riding on a bus to the middle of nowhere so that no one will have to see that POOR PEOPLE LIVE HERE in our city.

Oh on a related note. That same building also houses the office where we need to go if we are going to try for child support from ex spouses male or female who don't do their part. (It's sort of a must with workfare). The office where you can get free swim passes to the public pools are also there. You can qualify for one for free if you can show that your famiily experiences hardship. This covers workfare, disability and in some cases hourly waged employees who simply don't make enough money. It allows you to access SPECTRUM programing for less. Check  it out sometime.

I am sure there are MANY other reasons as well, but those are the ones I could come up with. Perhaps others who live on these systems could come up with more. For my part I am going to bed now. Cya tomorrow.



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