The number of seniors who live in poverty is increasing, and not where you’d expect

Recently, SPARC BC and the United Way of the Lower Mainland released a report on Seniors’ Poverty in BC. The report found that 8.8% of people over the age of 65 in BC were living under the low-income measure in 2015.

The low-income measure has different values for different household sizes. As an example, a one-person household after-tax income of less than $22,133 would be considered below the low-income measure in 2015. A two-person household would be considered below the low-income measure if they had an after-tax income of less than $31,301.

The report contains maps that show the percentage of seniors who live below the low-income threshold in 2015. The darker the colour, the larger the percentage.

Percent of seniors in low income in Metro Vancouver based on census tracks, 2015. Select map to enlarge.

The largest percentage of seniors who live in poverty also live in the largest communities in Metro Vancouver. In the South of Fraser, 16.5% of seniors in Surrey, 8.9% of seniors in Delta, 5.0% of seniors in Langley, and 4.5% of seniors in White Rock live below the low-income threshold.

Percent of seniors in low income in Langley based on census tracks, 2015. Select image to enlarge.

Langley City has a higher percent of lower-income seniors in the Douglas Neighbourhood. As seen on the following map, 10.2% of seniors in that area are living in poverty. A higher percentage of seniors in Willoughby and Aldergrove live below the low-income measure in 2015 than Langley City.

Housing is considered affordable if people are spending less than 30% of their income on shelter costs which include rent or mortgage, utilities, and property tax. For a single-person household, the total monthly costs could be no higher than $640 per month, or $902.10 per month for a two-person household, to be considered affordable in 2015. Langley City has traditionally had some of the lowest rents in the region. Poverty is exacerbated for people living in an area with higher rents.

As the report used data from 2015, I would image that the number of seniors living in poverty has only increased.

By tackling housing affordability, government can provide relief for low-income seniors. Local government can create rental-only zoning to encourage more rental units to be built in urban cores, near shops, services, and transit.

The provincial government must continue to strengthen the Shelter Aid For Elderly Renters (SAFER) rent-suplement program by creating a more granular and nimble program to ensure that seniors never pay more than 30% of their income for basic accommodation.