"It's been a very powerful, eye-opening, humbling experience," said Brar, who is now into day four of his one-month experiment of living on the monthly welfare rate of $610.
The NDP representative spent Sunday night at the Surrey Urban Mission shelter. The shelter closed Monday so Brar shifted to a house where seven other people, mostly welfare recipients, were splitting the rent.
"It's pretty hard to find a stand-alone unit for yourself on just $375, which is the shelter portion of the welfare money. So you have to share accommodation with other people."
Brar said he's heard some tragic stories in the shelters and crash pads. "I was talking to a guy named Rick who was from Winnipeg but moved here years ago when his wife and two children were killed in a car accident.
"He worked here in construction and as a bouncer, but then he was diagnosed with liver cancer so he lost his job. So he has been hit by every bad thing you can imagine."
On Tuesday Brar got up early and walked an hour and half back to the Surrey Urban Mission so that he could get some breakfast.
"The whole focus of people who are homeless is to find a place they can afford and to find free food or some grocery items they can afford."
After breakfast, Brar, who makes just over $100,000 as an MLA, stood in the queue at the Ministry of Social Development office with other people applying for welfare.
Despite being ineligible, Brar wanted to get a sense of the application experience.
So he met with a ministry employee outside of the office to go through the welfare application documents. He came away baffled by the amount of information asked by the ministry.
"It's a long, complex and difficult application process one has to go through," said Brar.
"They want to know every-thing about you: whether you have a house, your pension, bank accounts, how much cash you have."
Brar said ministry staff typically act fast to help people who are homeless and have an immediate need for food and shelter and almost no chance of finding work. But people who may have lost their jobs and then later lost their unemployment insurance have to wait at least three weeks and provide a work-search history, he added.
"There is a myth that it is easy to get on welfare and that myth is wrong," Brar said. "It is a very difficult and complex process."
Brar's sojourn into homelessness is in response to a challenge by Raise the Rates, a coalition of social groups that wants the B.C. government to raise welfare payments.
Original Article
Source: Vancouver Sun
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