Sweta Daboo
and Emma Drake
UPEISU
Today is April 1. While this date has long been synonymous with good humour and harmless pranks, today the only farce is the expectation of renters having to pay rent as usual while their income has been decimated.
People of low income across Prince Edward Island, especially youth and students, have been plunged into financial uncertainty, with decreased income due to COVID19 and no timely support to help them through today.
Youth are an incredibly vulnerable demographic: within Charlottetown, one in six youth are in low income, due to being students. Sixty-three per cent of students work part-time throughout the year to keep up with their costs — they live paycheque to paycheque and in the last two weeks, the paycheques have seen huge cuts or stopped entirely. This is a situation of incredibly high vulnerability, and rent represents the single largest expense these students have to face outside of tuition. While a number of announcements have been made to support those with lost income, none of the measures will provide timely aid, or reflect the unique financial situation students are in.
On March 25, the University of Prince Edward Island student union announced the creation of a fund to provide financial assistance to students who were facing additional barriers due to COVID19. By March 31, over 260 students had applied to this fund, with upwards of 200
directly stating that this amount would go towards rent. On the other end, UPEI had created its own Student Adversity Awards, with hundreds of students showing significant need there as well. None of the two funds can hope to meet this overwhelming need.
Employment Insurance, touted as the saviour for those with lost income, takes around five to six weeks to process, meaning it will not cover rent for April or May. Furthermore, the average student makes around $980 a month, EI would equal here $539 monthly, or 55 per cent of the
usual monthly income. Considering average rent for students is $538 per month, students thus have a staggering $1 left for groceries, phone bills, internet bills, and other expenses.
The Canada Emergency Response Benefit, while providing a livable sum of money, only covers those laid off or having lost all income due to COVID19, thus excluding those with decreased hours. Additionally, the CERB does not account for or support the thousands of students who
will be missing out on summer-time employment, which students rely on to put towards tuition, housing, or any of the other costs students face. Furthermore, this CERB will only arrive as of May, leaving vulnerable folks out to dry on April 1.
As of now, the most sustainable and inclusive solution for this disparity between income and expense is the implementation of student rent supplements going directly to renters, and not to landlords. Rent supplements have a direct impact in addressing the current concerns of
decreased income in the era of COVID19, but also a longer-lasting concern of housing affordability. A policy infrastructure already exists whereby income lost due to COVID19 can be evaluated and compensated for by the province.
Student rent supplements aren’t a new idea — many other jurisdictions such as New Brunswick have rent supplements for students which serves as a major form of financial support. Additionally, both the PC and Liberal parties included rent supplements for students on
their 2019 provincial election platforms, followed by Green support on this matter in the legislative assembly. All parties support rent supplements for students in P.E.I. — however, one year later, students have yet to see any movement to support them with growing housing costs.
On March 30, a $1 million Temporary Rental Assistance Benefit was announced by the province, with the tagline being the provision of “immediate support”, and an encouragement to call a 1-800 number to obtain information. Disappointingly, this ”immediate support” will only be available as from May 1, or over a month away. Additionally, this entire project has been shrouded in mystery, with no guidelines being set to access this fund, and seemingly no one being aware of whether students will be eligible. Not only is this misleading, but it also heightens the feelings of insecurity of low-income people across the province who expected to rely on this program.
Student rent supplements are long overdue. Not only is there precedent for how the existing infrastructure should be set up, but there is a rapidly increasing need for support with housing. COVID19 is merely exacerbating symptoms of an issue of housing affordability that
was already deeply entrenched in the province. Today, let’s not make fools of ourselves and act now for inclusive, comprehensive, housing supports.
Sweta Daboo and Emma Drake are on the executive of the UPEI student union in Charlottetown.
