Rent Assist was originally envisioned as a way to move benefits outside of the “welfare” system and promote transitions to employment. The cuts to Rent Assist highlighted in this report have moved away from this vision, clawing back benefits more aggressively and making it harder for low-income workers to make ends meet. The changes made by the Progressive Conservative government also discriminate between the “deserving” and “undeserving” poor, by introducing higher benefits for those not in the EIA program. This further stigmatizes and unfairly discriminates against some of the most vulnerable Manitobans, pushing them further into poverty, exacerbating health and other social challenges.
The report, downloadable above, reviews how benefit levels would be impacted by reversing the cuts to Rent Assist under the 2016–2023 PC government and reinstituting equal treatment between EIA-and non-EIA Rent Assist recipients. Doing this would involve the following changes for all Rent Assist recipients:
- Reducing the assumed portion of rent paid out of income to 25 per cent (from 30 per cent).
- Setting the indexed MMR to 80 per cent (an increase for EIA Rent Assist recipients).
- Returning to an average of studio and one-bedroom apartment MMRs for the assessment of benefit rates for all single person households (instead of studio apartment MMRs).
Improvements to Rent Assist are an important component of responding to the cost of living crisis, where a rapid response is required given the urgent situation and current depth of the challenge, including an inadequate stock of public housing.
