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Province Announces Poverty Reduction Strategy Showing Positive Results

The Manitoba government today released its 2014-15 annual report on ALL Aboard, the province’s poverty reduction and social inclusion strategy, which showed 5,000 fewer Manitobans were living below the poverty line in 2013 than in 2012, Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross said today.

“Poverty not only drags down individuals and families, it acts like an anchor on all aspects of life in this province,” Minister Irvin-Ross said.  “While we’ve made progress in reducing poverty, we’re going to increase our efforts to help lift more Manitobans out of poverty.”

Highlights of the ALL Aboard report include:

• 5,000 fewer Manitobans, of whom 4,000 are children, living below the poverty line in 2013 than in 2012;
• an 8.8 per cent decrease in the percentage of Manitoban households living without affordable, quality housing since 2006, a decrease of 3,505 households;
• high school graduation rate increased to 87 per cent, a 22.4 per cent increase since 2002;
• minimum wage increased by 26 per cent since 2008, more than twice the rate of inflation;
• more than 1,000 new child-care spaces in 2014-15, an 11 per cent increase in the percentage of children who have access to child care;
• a 44 per cent increase in university enrolment and a 51 per cent increase in college enrolment since 2000; and
• a 20 per cent decline in the teen birth rate.

The government continues to invest in poverty reduction including:

• committing to creating a universally accessible child-care system with a commitment to fund 12,000 additional spaces for families;
• investing $22 million in Rent Assist, bringing more people on employment and income assistance (EIA) and the working poor above the poverty line;
• building 500 more units of social and 500 more units of affordable housing over three years;
• enhancing the Rewarding Work Health Plan to support EIA participants transition into sustainable employment;
• eliminating interest on student loans and removing car ownership as a barrier to accessing student loans; and
• launching a new, $2-million child and youth mental health strategy.