Where poverty lives

from the Vancouver Sun

High real estate prices hide the fact that many residents in B.C's neighbourhoods live below poverty line

Doug Ward

While B.C. has glittering highrises and pricey middle-class homes, the province also has some of the most down-and-out neighbourhoods in Canada.

The latest census data shows that about 13.1 per cent of the B.C. population, or more than 521,000 people -- based on after-tax income -- lived at a low-income level in 2005.

The national rate is 11.4 per cent.

Statistics Canada does not have a standard definition for the term "poverty line." It uses a formula that looks at families that need to spend a high proportion of their income -- at least one-fifth more than the average family -- on basic necessities like food, shelter and clothing.

In the Vancouver region, Statistics Canada says 17.1 per cent of families fell into this low-income category.

Andrew Ramlo, a demographer who is director of the Urban Futures Institute, said B.C. has long had a high degree of poverty.

Ramlo said many Canadians "in the most dire of circumstances" often move to B.C. in search of jobs and a milder climate.

B.C., especially Metro Vancouver, also attracts many recent immigrants, a group with a higher low-income rate than those who have been in Canada for a number of years.

Census maps provided by Statistics Canada and shown right and below point to where poverty is located in the province.

Statistics Canada found that 22 B.C. census subdivisions (roughly, municipalities) had a low-income rate of 16 per cent or higher.

The map of the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area shows 14 census tracts with low-income levels of 33.3 per cent or more. Among these areas are predictable neighborhoods such as the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver and Whalley in Surrey.

But there are also some surprises: the University of B.C. with its thousands of students, and new-immigrant areas such as the No. 3 Road and Westminster Highway area in Richmond and the area around Metrotown in Burnaby.