A resolution to reduce poverty will be before Richmond council on Monday evening.
The Richmond Poverty Response Committee appealed to council in December to endorse the “ABC Plan” which calls on municipalities to be accountable, bold and comprehensive in poverty reduction initiatives and to lobby the provincial government to implement a poverty reduction strategy.
De Whalen, chair of the committee, said she was encouraged that the plan was approved in committee last week and that it is on the agenda for Monday’s meeting.
She said the committee has been working hard since 2000 on these issues.
“We have brought forward to city council and to the general public, issues around housing, homelessness, food security, transportation, adult and early learning and social determinants of health,” she said. “We are pleased that our hard work is culminating in city council's endorsement of a poverty reduction plan.”
The city has been “proactive” in many poverty-related areas, she added, for example, in child care and in creating an affordable housing strategy and reserve fund.
Next, the committee plans to encourage the City of Richmond to become a living-wage employer so that contract workers are paid a “dignified wage so they can live and thrive in Richmond,” Whalen explained. This would benefit cleaning staff, food service staff and security.
