There was once an idea that interested people;  if you gave people autonomy and enough money you could shape their health and well-being. But was it true?  They took the idea and created an experiment called the Ontario Basic Income Pilot.  4000 households.  4 cities. 6000 lives. Then it was cancelled.  The stories you will read here are not fictional.  They belong to real people.  This is their lives. On basic income and off.

Gentrification and rising property values are leading to skyrocketing rents in Hamilton. Families are being priced out of their homes and displaced by large property management companies that often hike rents in multi-residential apartment buildings.

Payday Loans appeal to people who fall into a financial emergency and need quick cash to pay a bill or put food in the table, but borrowing can quickly cascade into deep debt. Outlets in Hamilton often locate in lower-income neighbourhoods and use misleading advertising to hide high interest rates. At least 16,000 Hamiltonians borrow about $50 million worth of payday loans annually.

The purpose of the Speakers’ Bureau is to empower individuals by giving voice to their lived experience with poverty and social exclusion.  The concept’s origins stem from the Shifting Attitudes work group of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction; founded to combat pervasive negative stereotypes and promote educated dialogue around the community implications and costs of poverty and social exclusion.  Participants will be available for speaking engagements to promote acceptance of community diversity and enhance awareness of local poverty issues through the telling of their personal stories. Speaker Profiles Isabella is a proud Hamiltonian, by way of Montreal and then Burlington