A Kelowna woman fears she is headed for a homeless shelter due to clawbacks made by the provincial government to her disability benefits after a car crash.
Brenda Prince collects $1,500 per month in disability benefits and supplements that with a part-time job in retail worth $1,000 per month to make ends meet.
On June 7, Prince was having car issues at the side of the road when a Good Samaritan came to her aid and offered her a ride home.
While riding home in the passenger seat, the vehicle was T-boned and Prince was hospitalized. She sustained airbag burns, whiplash and a sprained ankle.
Unable to work on her feet, she was forced onto medical employment insurance and ICBC provided a supplement to cover the rest of her $1,000 monthly income.
The provincial government responded by withholding $800 of her monthly disability benefits, leaving her with just $700.
She went from earning $2,500 per month via disability and her part-time job to just $1,700 from a combination of EI ($800), ICBC ($200) and disability benefits ($700).
Prince rents a bedroom in Kelowna for $1,100 per month and has other bills on top of that.
“I've taken out payday loans against my disability in order to pay last month's rent,” she said. “I rent a bedroom, I mean, I can't go much lower than going into a shelter, which I'm almost forced to do come next month.”
People receiving disability benefits are allowed to earn up to $18,000 per year without receiving a deduction.
Prince was previously well under that threshold and was happy to work the hours she could to pay rent—she notes a person cannot live on just $1,500 a month in Kelowna.
“I've been comfortable with my little life,” she said, explaining she has been on disability for years. “I could take care of myself.”
Prince cannot understand why she is being penalized for being a passenger in a car crash. “What is our car insurance worth, what is it paying?”
She has taken her situation to local advocacy groups and the provincial government and has been told this is simply the way the system is set up.
“It’s outrageous that the government is doing this to people on disability. I'm doing everything I can to stay afloat — this car accident, I was a passenger in a car accident where we were T-boned into my door… I was not driving. It was not my car.”
ICBC itself appears to be pointing the finger at the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction.
In an email to Prince on July 23, ICBC senior support and recovery specialist Timothy Lim said Prince would have to take up the situation with the ministry.
"PWD (Person with Disabilities) may not be familiar with the legislative changes to ICBC since May 1, 2021," Lim said. "PWD should not be deducting ICBC or EI within the $1,000 allowed."
"You will need to discuss this with PWD and advise them to review their policy with respect to the new legislative changes to ICBC."
In a statement to Castanet News, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction Sheila Malcolmson acknowledged that Prince is falling through the cracks.
"Programs like this should support people in their time of need, but that wasn’t so in this case. As we build and fix services and supports harmed by the old government, we find issues that need to be fixed," the statement said. "This is one, so I have directed my ministry to fix this issue of those on Income or Disability Assistance and ICBC income replacement benefit payments."
"In the meantime, my ministry has contacted the person to see what emergency supports can be provided. If anyone else is facing similar challenges, please reach out to my ministry for support," Malcolmson said.
Prince says it is nice that the government is making changes for anyone else that comes after her, but the emergency crisis grants she has been referred to by the ministry will still likely leave her with a significant shortfall.
She has just started to return to work, in a limited capacity, while she heals. She expects it will be another month before she is able to work as much as she did before the crash, "so this will keep multiplying until I am fully healed."
"What am I supposed to do, open a lemonade stand?"
