Help increase housing affordability in Manitoba

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Make Poverty History Manitoba (MPHM) is urging the Province of Manitoba to increase the Rental Allowance received by Manitobans who rely on Employment and Income Assistance (EIA).

EIA recipients are provided with a rental allowance that has increased marginally since 1992 when compared to market rents which have gone up by approximately 60-70% during the same period. We are asking the Province to increase the rental allowance to 75% of median market rent. The Province estimates this will cost approximately $18.5 million annually. This is less than 1% of the Manitoba budget. The province will also need to index rates to inflation to ensure that rates do not fall behind in the future.

The time to increase the EIA rental allowance is long overdue. Manitobans need to join together to make it happen now. We are collecting the names of organizations who support our proposal so we can demonstrate to the Province that there is a broad cross-section of Manitobans who believe all citizens should have acccess to safe and affordable housing. Please contact Kirsten Bernas at manitoba@makepovertyhistory.ca to indicate your support. The bigger and broader our list of supporters, the better.

Click here to access a document providing more information on this proposal which you can share with others to help us gain broader support.

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