Richard receives disability benefits through British Columbia's welfare program. Disability benefits are very low (less than $1000 a month in a city where the average one bedroom apartment costs that much). Richard lived on the streets for many years while he waited to get into social housing -- he moved into his own home just a few months after this video was made. This video is part of a slideshow about welfare (or social assistance) and poverty in British Columbia, Canada. Watch the full slideshow here.
Video by Goh Iromoto.
“We need the CCPA to remind us that our dreams of a decent, egalitarian society are reasonable — indeed that with a little work, they are practical. And I love that practicality, that protection of the dream of the possible.”
— Naomi Klein