Young people in government care in B.C. will have access to new and increased supports until the age of 27 thanks to $35 million in funding over three years.
Mitzi Dean, minister of children and family development, says the money is part of $633 million over three years meant to support people experiencing homelessness throughout the province.
“This is the first time the province has created a comprehensive cross-government approach to supporting youth in and from care,” Dean said, noting almost half of the young people in government care experience homelessness at some point in their lives.
“We learned a lot from the pandemic emergency supports, and young people told us what they needed to not just survive, but to thrive – and we heard them loud and clear. We believe in these young people, and we’re showing that by giving them the supports they need to lead healthy and happy lives.”
She says this new funding will help these young people transition from government care to adulthood.
It will include a new one-year income supplement of $1,250 per month along with a $600-a-month rental supplement. There will also be a ‘no-limit earnings exemption’ which Dean says aims to give these young adults “an incentive to work and build that independence for themselves,” while still getting government supports, including an improved access to transition workers, enhanced life skills and mental-health programs, as well as better medical benefits.
Executive Director of A Way Home Kamloops, Tangie Genshorek, says they’re grateful that the government is closing the gaps facing some of the most under-served members of the community.
“We are grateful that our calls to action are being heard. We would also like to congratulate those who have worked really hard to make these significant changes in Budget 2022. We thank you for listening and we thank you for caring,” Genshorek said.
“The founder of A Way Home Kamloops, Katherine McParland, was a former youth in care, and she often spoke about the Super Highway to Homelessness. She would be very excited today to be able to visualize a different future, where we can support vulnerable youth and lift them up to independence instead of leaving them to suffer.”
But Genshorek notes there is a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure that these plans are acted upon.
“This budget can mark the beginning of a significant shift where we are all working together to make sure that people aren’t falling through the cracks,” she said. “A shift to seeing what people need instead of judging them for what they don’t have. And a shift to caring instead of questioning them.”
The B.C. government is also making permanent an emergency measure that was put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that allows young people to stay in their foster homes past the age of 19 until they are 21 years old.
Another $164 million of the $633-million is meant to expand the complex-care housing program, with one such facility expected to be announced in Kamloops ‘in the coming weeks.’
A further $264 million has been earmarked for a permanent housing plan to ensure the approximately 3,000 people who were temporarily housed during the COVID-19 pandemic do not return to homelessness.
