In an analysis and press release today the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) has found that close to "half of working renters in Canada don't have enough savings to pay their bills for more than a month if they lose their jobs".
According to the CCPA release:
"As more Canadians lose their incomes to COVID-19 every day, hundreds of thousands of families could soon be forced to choose between buying groceries and paying the rent," said Ricardo Tranjan, political economist and senior researcher with the CCPA Ontario office. "It's good that the Government of Canada has announced plans to support lower-income Canadians, but many families can't wait for support by April or May – they need it now. A lot of out-of-work tenants will be in dire straits before the end of the month."The report itself includes graphics that show very starkly the situation we are facing.
Statistics Canada data from 2016 show that 3.4 million Canadian households are renters whose main source of income is employment or self-employment income. Of this group, 46 per cent, or 1.6 million households, only have enough money saved to pay their bills for a month or less, the CCPA analysis shows. Twenty-four per cent of the total, or 830,000 households, don't have enough income to get through a single week without pay.
"When we say people are living paycheque to paycheque, it's not just an expression, it's reality," Tranjan said. "As the crisis worsens, the need to support low-income renters becomes even more urgent. Both the federal and provincial governments must work to keep renters safe and solvent."
The analysis reinforces the urgency of demands for Employment Insurance reform and wage premiums from unions like Unifor.
In a press release today Jerry Dias, Unifor National President said "We are facing a crisis of catastrophic proportions that requires fast action from government. Despite promising first steps, federal progress on worker supports has stalled and I'm afraid our opportunity for quick action may have passed".
The release further noted that:
Unifor is calling on Parliament to pass emergency measures on Tuesday to expedite the delivery of paycheques to displaced working families, through whatever means necessary, including via existing employer payroll systems or direct payments to households.
"Canada's workers were feeling the squeeze before they were forced out of a job by this pandemic. Without a dramatic change of tack, in a few more days laid-off workers will be left with empty cupboards and bare dinner tables," said Dias.
Unifor wants retailers remaining open to -- in addition to enhanced safety measures -- give their workers essential wage premiums like the extra $2 an hour that have been instituted by major chains like Rexall, Loblaw and Metro. This would both help workers to save towards a possible future shutdown of their workplace as well as with supporting their families where other household members may already be out of work.
The time for action is now.
"Last week, more than 500,000 individual E.I. claims were filed and there is no reason to expect that number to slow down," said Lana Payne, Unifor Secretary-Treasurer. "Millions more will have their work interrupted by this pandemic. The E.I. system, once overwhelmed, is now completely under water."
Dias added further that "Members of Parliament need to be prepared to make an immediate decision about how they plan to fund income replacement for Canada's workers tomorrow. If the E.I. system cannot handle these claims in a timely way, an immediate and temporary alternative is needed to ensure hardworking Canadian families do not fall into financial ruin.".
Tranjan in his CCPA report concludes:
The findings in this report show the magnitude of the need. Tenants don’t
have enough financial cushion to pay next month’s rent. And once they are
back to work, they won’t be able to pay arrears, given how little they were
able to save in normal times.
The federal government and its provincial counterparts need a plan, or
several plans.
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