Media Clipping — Friday, July 20, 200, The Daily News, Halifax

Life, on $7 a day

By Peter Mclaughlin

The 44-year-old Halifax woman, who struggles on less than $7 a day after her monthly $515 rent is paid, says she is amazed some days that she survives. She receives just $8,500 a year from family benefits, and is one of 20 per cent of Nova Scotians who are considered the poorest in the land.

She gets by with a lot of help from a local social agency, Clubhouse Connections, that helps feed her and find the odd job to supplement her income.

$11 a week on meals

"If it weren't for them, I'd be living off food-bank food,'' said Brown who spends about $11 a week on meals offered at the Clubhouse. At home, a loaf of bread is stretched over a week for snacks and breakfasts.

Brown, who is manic depressive and schizophrenic, last held a steady job three years ago.

Local researchers Colin Dodds and Ronald Colman also found the gap between Nova Scotia's richest and poorest is now greater than ever.

Poverty advocate and legal-aid lawyer Jeanne Fay is not surprised by the findings.

"People out there are hurting,'' she said. "I have so many people on my case load - old people, sick people, who are not eating, who are paying everything they have for rent. Yeah, it's pretty bad.''

“It‘s a real battle”

"People always say: `live within your means. They don't understand there's no money to do that,'' says Brown. "It's frustrating; it's a real battle to get ahead."

The study broke household incomes into five categories to get a more accurate picture of who benefits from a growing economy.

The average disposable after-tax income for the bottom 20 per cent of Nova Scotian households in 1998 was $8,205, compared with $70,000 for the richest 20 per cent.

The study found the only group of Nova Scotians to benefit from a growing economy over the last decade is the top 20 per cent.

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