Brantford: ideal to test province's basic income plan, says city official
"Brantford and Brant [have] a stong tradition of social innovation," says city official
The city of Brantford is one of several Ontario municipalities set to pilot the province's basic income plan in late spring.
The project would see whether providing a basic annual income can improve the quality of life for people facing issues like poverty, homelessness and precarious employment.
"[The community] saw the potential for the basic income to help individuals and families that would be affected by these kinds of issues," said Susan Evenden, director of social assistance and homelessness services for the city.
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The provincial government intends to commit to at least three years for the pilot.
Evenden pointed out that Brantford is a great place for a test project like this because of its proximity to First Nations communities, its mix of rural and urban residents, and the fact that both residents and politicians in the area embraced the idea.
"When we held our community consultation process, we saw that there was a lot of community interest in the concept," she said.
The predictability of having a stable source of income was also a selling point of the project in Brantford. People are not able to budget if they don't know how or when they'll be having their next work shift, Evenden said.