Economic barriers
Who is implicated? Everyone
Barriers associated with the economic capacity of the different systems presented here (individual/parent, organizations, government).
Two systems are proposed in the examples below:
- Barriers associated with the individual’s economic capacity—or of the household in which the individual lives—to maintain an acceptable quality of life in terms of safety, health, work, culture, and recreation
- Barriers associated with the organizations’ economic capacity to offer families free, quality services
Examples
Possible impacts
The individual’s economic capacity
Example: Low family income.
Example: Difficulties finding adequate and affordable housing for large families.
- The impacts resulting from economic situation may affect several aspects of family life :
- Housing quality
- Food quality and quantity
- Transportation (public transportation costs, access to a car, gas costs, etc.)
- Access to cultural and sports activities
- Insurance coverage and medication costs
- Remoteness from large urban centres, meaning a greater need for travel
- Choice of housing that is too small for the family, which may entail excessively crowded conditions for a large family
- Choice of housing that is comparatively affordable but inadequately maintained by the landlord, such as poor sanitation, which may entail risks to the family’s health
Alain Poirier, medical officer at the INSPQ, shares Québec housing data. (In French only)
Nibisha Sioui discusses the housing difficulties experienced by Aboriginal families. (In French only)
Examples
Possible impacts
Organizations’ economic capacity
Example: Community organizations insufficiently funded to deliver on their core mission.
Example: Funding structures poorly adapted for working with families.
- Staff reductions
- Low pay for intervention workers
- Difficulties retaining staff due to poor working conditions
- Possibly inadequate educational qualifications among the intervention workers that are retained, a lack of choice due to the conditions on offer
- Constant search for funding, meaning not enough time to engage in strategic reflections on the direction the organization should take
- Part-time job offers (two or three days a week), which are less interesting for professionals
- Organizations are required to respond to calls for projects that do not necessarily correspond to the needs of families or to their own needs
- A lot of administrative effort to secure a modest, non-renewable grant
- Organizations facing the prospect of inadequate funding devote their collective efforts to securing additional funding rather than to mobilizing their partners
- Due to a lack of resources, some organizations are torn between devoting their time to their own organization and participating in collective efforts