A program that allows adults with disabilities to live with a dedicated care provider is underfunded, understaffed and has a waitlist hundreds of clients long, according to an external review ordered by the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction.
Advocates and providers of Community Living B.C.’s home share program say what is needed is not more recommendations and reviews but action to fix a sector in which many of those offering the service are being paid an average of $4 an hour, paying out of pocket for time off and not being provided the proper training.
Lisa Garner, formerly of Surrey before relocating to Vancouver Island, said she has been caring for her client Paul for over 20 years and received her first raise in 16 years in 2023. Despite this, she said she still only receives an average of $11 a day to feed her client, and only gets $100 for each respite day.
“In 20-plus years, that dollar value has not changed, and in order to hire someone to take care of my individual, it’s in excess of $250 a day. So we are out of pocket if we want time off,” said Garner.
The ministry’s review, released last week, was commissioned in June in the wake of an inquest into the 2018 death of Florence Girard, a 54-year-old Port Coquitlam woman who was found to have starved to death while in the care of CLBC.
Tamar Consultancy, whose subcontractor Tim Stainton helped develop CLBC and co-led the review, found that while there have been important changes made to the program since Girard’s death, such as increased wellness checks and requiring annual medical checkups, it remains grossly underfunded and providers are struggling to provide the services mandated by CLBC.
There is also the problem of ever-growing waitlists, with 735 currently awaiting a home share arrangement and another 238 on a planning registry. An additional 19,231 adults with disabilities are living with their families, with the reviewers saying it shows there is a large population of people who could want to enter home share arrangement in the future.
Other options such as group homes are scarce, meaning that home share and living at home with family are really the only two options for people who can’t live on their own.
In 2023, CLBC increased the rate people with disabilities receive monthly from $716 to $841. On top of that amount, home care providers receive money from CLBC based on the perceived complexity of the client they are looking after.
This can range anywhere from $1,045 a month to $5,015 a month, which breaks down to between $261 to $1,254 a week, or $35 to $167 a day for a 30-day month.
Garner said the problem is that most providers don’t have a copy of the document used to determine those rates, called a Guide to Support Allocation, and don’t get to have a say in what they feel is their client’s level of complexity.
She also said that many providers don’t receive training and that the report will likely only serve to increase the money going to CLBC for administration and executive salaries.
“It’ll go into more funding for CLBC, for more oversight and more management, and more people sitting around a table … laughing about the money they’re making, none going to the client, exactly what’s been happening the whole time,” said Garner.
In a statement, CLBC said less than seven per cent of its budget goes to salaries and administration and that has been the case for many years.
Selena Martin, president of the B.C. Home Share Providers Association, said that when providers complain to the ministry about the lack of support they are receiving those emails simply get forwarded to CLBC.
Tamara Taggart, the president of Down syndrome B.C., said there have been five reports on home share over the years and they all have come to the same conclusions and are led by the same people.
She said each review is really the government’s way of appearing like it is doing something when it isn’t.
“There’s no planning, there’s no choice for people, there’s no capacity, and there’s no workforce. So that’s a problem,” said Taggart.
“CLBC has done nothing to increase capacity. I’m sure they’ve done nothing to improve the workforce. They don’t compensate the workforce properly.”
Social Development Minister Sheila Malcolmson told Postmedia that the main purpose of the review was to address safety concerns stemming from the inquest into Girard’s death, but that she is always willing to hear the concerns of providers as well.
She said the government over the last eight years has increased both the shelter rate and home share rate but understands there is more to do.
“Absolutely, I hear from home share providers that they need more support, and that’s something that I continue to urge,” said Malcolmson.
“It’s my expectation as minister that Community Living B.C. supports both the clients that it’s responsible for and then also the partners in delivering service.”
