Kinsight offers many services to people with disabilities and their families to support economic wellbeing. These include supports to secure employment and affordable, accessible and inclusive housing as well as supports to assist people to access benefits and engage in financial planning (e.g. supports to access the federal Disability Tax Credit and Registered Disability Savings Plan as well as the provincial Persons with Disabilities Benefit). Supports in relation to these can be accessed through our Employment Services, L.I.F.E. (Learning, Inclusion, Friendship and Employment) program, Housing, Supported Child Development, Transition and Family Support Programs.
Kinsight is working to advance the Canada Disability Benefit Act – Bill C-22. We are a proud partner and sponsor of the Disability Without Poverty BC and Disability Without Poverty Federal initiative. For the last 3 years, with funding from the Vancouver Foundation, and resources and support from Kinsight and several partners, our BC initiative has focused on advocating for provincial disability poverty issues and bringing that context to the national Disability Without Poverty group to inform our advocacy. https://www.disabilitywithoutpoverty.ca
June 22, 2023, was a historic moment when Bill C-22 for the Canada Disability Benefit received Royal Assent and became law by the Senate. There is a 12-month deadline to develop the new Act’s regulations. The Canada Disability Benefit Act proposes to create a federal income supplement for low-income, working-aged people with disabilities, modelled after the Guaranteed Income Supplement. This would support financial security for a community that is twice as likely to live in poverty and has a much lower rate of employment than the general population.