Manitoba Rent Assist: Fill & Download for Free

The previous person mentioned Kijiji and I would agree that's a very good site for renting.Do you have any personal or professional connection in Winnipeg? If so, those individuals can assist you in finding a place that's affordable and in an area of the city that is comfortable for you.Are you coming here for study or for work? This will affect where you want to live because you would want to be near campus or your workplace. Again, if you establish some connections here, those people can take all these factors into consideration when searching out a place for you.

My answer leans towards the pros and cons for an immigrant rather than for Canada per se.Pros:Publicly funded healthcare- you don't pay medical bills at the family physician’s clinic, at labs or in the hospitals. Its all funded through taxes. So whether, you are in the high income bracket or the low one, you get the same level of healthcareFree education for kids in public schoolsGovernment offers financial assistance to low income families to help raise kids. Its called Canada Child BenefitOld age pension- But you should have contributed to Canada Pension Plan for at least 10 years to be eligibleProximity to United States and South America: For leisure or business needs or just for travelling aroundBetter work life balance.Less crime especially if you are moving from a low income countryA public transport system you can rely onFresh air and clean water for lifeLots of interesting places to visit to explore the wilderness of CanadaGet a Canadian Passport once you become a citizen. Its one of the top ten most powerful passports in the worlds and gets you visa free or on arrival visa to a lot of countries.Cons:High cost of living: Rents, car insurance, groceries are all expensive.You will be phased out of the housing market, should you aspire to buy a house in high profile cities such as Toronto or VancouverRelatively low salaries compared to US, Australia and few other developed nationsUnless you are very high income earner , you’ll always live pay check to pay check.If you are not used to doing all your chores such as laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. you’ll need t get used to it, unless you can pay someone at least $20 an hour to do it for you.Harsh winters- Can go as low as -30*C in Ontario and Alberta and up to -50 in Manitoba. Vancouver does a lot better. This just means that you are going to be more indoors during the winters. The heated buildings will provide you all the warmth you need indoors and duck down jackets will do the same outdoors.Jobs: There are both good and bad stories around this.If you are in more regulated profession then its best to migrate with a job offer in hand. For generic professions, people don’t suffer as much as those in regulated professions do.

You’ve asked a big question that has layers of answers. In the simplest terms, in my province, Manitoba, you are eligible for Social Assistance if you have lost employment and run out of employment benefits and can’t find work. If you qualify, you receive a month benefit of approximately $800 and the potential of several hundred dollars more from the Rent Assist. A single person on Social Assistance receives about $800 a month for an annual income of $9600. The benefit increases if you are married with a spouse also unable to work and then increases again if you have dependants.I am going to stay with a single person as it is easier to compare. The poverty line in Manitoba cities is $15,558 and just over $12,000 in rural areas. Someone on Social Assistance is living below the poverty line. On Manitoba’s website, there are some other benefits provided such as vision and dental care and one time benefits for something like a bed.I have no idea how someone could find adequate housing and feed themselves, let alone clothe themselves on less than $10,000 annually. One would be hard pressed to find healthy accommodations for even $500 a month which leaves you with $300 to buy food, pay for bus tickets, pay for a phone and buy clothes. So I definitely understand if those on Social Assistance do beg.Now comes the sad part about the homeless. Even if they receive Social Assistance, they may not be able to find suitable housing on their income but they need an address to apply and a bank account to receive the direct deposits. If they don’t have a home address, it becomes much more difficult to apply. If you have a bank account, you have to pay banking fees which cuts into your income. It is a catch-22 for the poor.And even sadder, are those people with mental illness or drug addictions who would find it difficult to even apply for Social Assistance. They require identification and many may not have their birth certificate and certainly not a driver’s license. The younger ones may not even have a social insurance number SIN.If we continue to fund the poor below the poverty line, the disturbing fact is we will continue to see more people living on the streets. They really don’t have many choices as many are unemployable. They may not have completed high school or received any training to be employable. Those children whose parents receive Social Assistance live in this hopeless world of poverty and as soon as they turn 18, they are no longer a dependant in the family. Or if they are in foster care, the system stops funding them when they turn 18 and they are out on the streets alone.There are nighttime shelters for the homeless but they fill up fast and some do not accept people with addiction problems. There is one special facility that I know of called the Red Road Lodge, a transitional, supportive housing facility that is the only dry, safe single room occupancy hotel on Main Street, formerly known as the Occidental Hotel. They offer a safe place, regardless of addiction issues and work with people to help them become self sufficient. For the first time in years, they don’t have to worry about the cold weather, dangerous situations or where their next meal will come from. People pit in the hard work necessary to become self sufficient and to move out on their own. Sounds like a great approach but they only have 43 rooms. We would need many more facilities like this to put a dent in our homeless problem.Or, we can step it up and create a minimum income program that treats people like people and ensures they live above the poverty line, and stops the perpetual cycle of poverty and homelessness.We must do it. We can do it.