It's important to remember that many Income Support recipients were eligible for the CERB, and were encouraged to apply for it. End Homelessness St. John's is glad there is a call to end clawbacks of Income Support benefits from CERB recipients. [1/12]

In July 2020 @EHSJ and 11 community partners wrote to then-Minister of AESL Chris Mitchelmore asking to exempt CERB recipients from Income Support clawbacks as most other provinces did – following the recommendation of the Government of Canada. https://twitter.com/EHSJ709/status/1280835015090360320 [2/12]

We provided solid case-based evidence that the clawback policy was flawed and would have tremendously negative impacts on our most vulnerable neighbours, and ultimately public systems costs would exceed any savings accrued by the clawbacks. https://bit.ly/2NKXvnJ  [3/12]

Unfortunately, that exemption was not made, and as a result we've seen many folks on Income Support suffer in the midst of the pandemic. https://theindependent.ca/2020/07/03/nl-cerb-clawbacks-push-people-into-poverty-advocates [4/12]

Those ineligible would eventually have the CERB clawed back by the Government of Canada. Once the Province clawed back their Income Support they'd be left with nothing, effectively punishing Income Support recipients twice. [5/12]

Compounding this, the 60-day income testing period to get (re)accepted into Income Support has made it unnecessarily difficult for folks who exited Income Support as a result of the CERB to get their Income Support benefits back. [6/12]

Between April and May 2020, the province has seen a ~10% reduction in Income Support caseloads as a result of the CERB being introduced, leading to an estimated $4,142,000 in savings. The CERB provided $1.1 billion in emergency income for residents of the province. [7/12]

Making Income Support recipients suffer while 121,000 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians (over half the working population) accessed the CERB at some point during the pandemic is unnecessary. [8/12]

As a community, we need to reduce the stigma of the "deserving" and "undeserving" poor. Money saved on the backs of Income Support recipients will have to be spent on emergency responses to deal with the negative effects of extreme poverty. [9/12]

If we look at the average monthly cost of housing an individual experiencing homelessness in NL, it becomes clear that any fiscal policy driving people into homelessness or poverty is ineffective, and results in no monetary benefit. https://bit.ly/3cuBVyc  [10/12]

Many of our most vulnerable neighbours were disproportionally affected as they struggled to make ends meet through the pandemic, simply as a result of living in poverty in the first place. [11/12]

EHSJ would like to see a commitment from each of the parties that, if elected, they will immediately end clawbacks of Income Support benefits resulting from the CERB. @nlliberals @PCPartyNL @alliance_nl @nlndp [12/12]