The BC Budget for the 2023/2024 fiscal year was announced at the legislative assembly in Victoria on February 28, 2023. The Budget revealed that there would be an increase to the shelter rate for people on income assistance and disability assistance; an increase that has been long overdue. The shelter rate, which hasn’t changed since 2007, will increase from $375 per month to $500 per month for single individuals. Rent prices have increased by much more than $125 since 2007, so while we recognize that this shelter rate increase is a step in the right direction, it fails to meaningfully address systemic poverty in our province.

There are also increases to most income and disability assistance supplements, including diet supplements (increased by 50%) and the monthly nutritional supplement (increased from $165 to $180 per month). These changes take effect as of August 1st, 2023 (and will appear starting with the July 19th 2023 cheque issue).

The provincial government recently released a rate table, detailing current rates as well as the new rates. You can view this rate table here: https://tinyurl.com/5xxh5527.

If you have questions about any of these changes, you can email us at advocacy@disabilityalliancebc.org or call us at 604-872-1278 (Toll-free: 1-800-663-1278). Please be advised that we receive a high volume of inquiries and it will likely take some time to hear back from an advocate.

To read our original response to the 2023/2024 BC Budget, from which some of the information in this Community Update has been taken, please visit our blog: https://disabilityalliancebc.org/dabcs-response-to-2023-bc-budget/.