P A R T C D e c i s i o n u n d e r A p p e a l T h e d e c i s i o n u n d e r a p p e a l i s t h e M i n i s t ry o f S o c i a l D " m i n i s t ry " ) r e c o n s i d e r a t i o n d e c i s i o n o f O c t o b e r 2 , 2 0 c r i s i s s u p p l e m e n t t o p a y t h e a r r e a r s o n t h e a p p e l l a n w a s t h a t t h e a p p e l l a n t d i d n o t s a t i s f y 2 s t a t u t o r y c r i t e a n d A s s i s t a n c e f o r P e r s o n s w i t h D i s a b i l i t i e s R e g u l a t u n e x p e c t e d , a n d i t w a s n o t s a t i s f i e d t h a t t h e a p p e l l a n o r e s o u r c e s b e i n g a v a i l a b l e t o t h e f a m i l y u n i t . P A R T D R e l e v a n t L e g i s l a t i o n E m p l o y m e n t a n d A s s i s t a n c e f o r P e r s o n s w i t h D i s a b i EAA T 0 0 3 ( 1 0 / 0 6 / 0 1 )A P P E A L # I e v e l o p m e n t a n d S o c i a l I n n o v a t i o n ( t h e 1 4 w h e r e i n t h e m i n i s t r y d e n i e d t h e a p p e l l a n t a t ' s h y d r o b i l l . T h e b a s i s f o r t h e m i n i s t r y ' s d e c i s i o n r i a a s s e t o u t i n s e c t i o n 5 7 ( 1 ) o f t h e E m p l o y m e n t i o n . T h e m i n i s t r y h e l d t h a t t h e e x p e n s e w a s n o t n t w a s u n a b l e t o m e e t t h e e x p e n s e a s a r e s u l t o f l i t i e s R e g u l a t i o n ( " E A P W D R " ) s e c t i o n 5 7
APPEAL# I PART E -Summary of Facts With the consent of both parties the hearing was conducting in writing in accordance with section 22(3) of the Employment and Assistance Act. The information before the ministry at the time of reconsideration included the following: • The appellant's Request for Reconsideration dated September 10, 2014, with attached written submission. • The appellant's hydro bill dated January _16, 2014 in the amount of $702.40. In its reconsideration decision, the ministry wrote that: • The appellant is a sole recipient of disability assistance. She receives a $35 diet allowance, $531.42 support and $375 shelter for a total of $941.42 each month. • The appellant advised the ministry on September 9, 2014 that her hydro had been disconnected, and that she had not received a notice of disconnection or any bills or notices from BC Hydro. • The ministry contacted BC Hydro and was told that the appellant had been sent 9 notices in the past 11 months advising that her account was past due and subject to disconnection. • The hydro bills and notices had been mailed to the same address to which the appellant's assistance cheques were mailed, and that the appellant had been receiving her assistance cheques. • The ministry had since October 2011 been paying $81.29 per month directly to BC Hydro on the appellant's behalf. • BC Hydro told the ministry that the appellant's outstanding amount due was $941.42, and that the only payments received on the account were the $81.29 per month being paid directly by the ministry on the appellant's behalf. In her reconsideration submission the appellant wrote that: • Her hydro was cut off. • There had been a misunderstanding with the ministry and the ministry was supposed to have paid BC Hydro arrears in the amount of $1,069 on her behalf. • She cannot pay the hydro bill as her rent is $700.00 plus $81.00 for hydro, and she cannot survive on the remaining $119.00 per month. The January 16, 2014 BC Hydro bill -which the ministry said was submitted to the ministry by the appellant -shows a past due balance from the previous bill of $492.06, and current charges of $210.34 for a total of $702.40. The bill includes the statement that "Balance payable includes an amount which is payable now ... Collection action may include service disconnection." Neither party provided any further submissions for the purposes of this written appeal. EAAT 003(10/06/01)
P A R T F R e a s o n s f o r P a n e l D e c i s i o n T h e i s s u e o n a p p e a l i s w h e t h e r t h e m i n i s t r y ' s O c t o b e c r i s i s s u p p l e m e n t f o r t h e a p p e l l a n t ' s h y d r o w a s r e a s o r e a s o n a b l e a p p l i c a t i o n o f t h e a p p l i c a b l e e n a c t m e n t i T h e r e l e v a n t l e g i s l a t i o n i s a s f o l l o w s : E A P W D R C r i s i s s u p p l e m e n t 5 7 ( 1 ) T h e m i n i s t e r m a y p r o v i d e a c r i s i s s u p p l e m d i s a b i l i t y a s s i s t a n c e o r h a r d s h i p a s s i s t a n c e ( a ) t h e f a m i l y u n i t o r a p e r s o m e e t a n u n e x p e c t e d e x p e n s e u n a b l e t o m e e t t h e e x p e n s e a v a i l a b l e t o t h e f a m i l y u n i t , a ( b ) t h e m i n i s t e r c o n s i d e r s t h w i l l r e s u l t i n ( i ) i m m i n e n t d a n g e r t u n i t , o r ( i i ) r e m o v a l o f a c h i l d A c t . ( 2 ) A c r i s i s s u p p l e m e n t m a y b e p r o v i d e d o n o r r e q u e s t f o r t h e s u p p l e m e n t i s m a d e . ( 3 ) A c r i s i s s u p p l e m e n t m a y n o t b e p r o v i d e ( a ) a s u p p l e m e n t d e s c r i b e d i ( b ) a n y o t h e r h e a l t h c a r e g o o ( 4 ) A c r i s i s s u p p l e m e n t p r o v i d e d f o r f o o d , s l i m i t a t i o n s : ( a ) i f f o r f o o d , t h e m a x i m u m i s $ 2 0 f o r e a c h p e r s o n i n t h e ( b ) i f f o r s h e l t e r , t h e m a x i m u m o n t h i s t h e s m a l l e r o f ( i ) t h e f a m i l y u n i t ' s a c ( i i ) t h e m a x i m u m s e t S c h e d u l e D , a s a p p l i c ( c ) i f f o r c l o t h i n g , t h e a m o u n s m a l l e r o f ( i ) $ 1 0 0 fo r e a c h p e r s p e r i o d p r e c e d i n g t h e d ( i i ) $ 4 0 0 f o r t h e f a m i l t h e d a t e o f a p p l i c a t i o n ( 5 ) T h e c u m u l a t i v e a m o u n t o f c r i s i s s u p p l e m i n a y e a r m u s t n o t e x c e e d t h e a m o u n t c a l c u E M T 0 0 3 ( 1 0 / 0 6 / 0 1 )A P P E A L # I r 2 , 2 0 1 4 r e c o n s i d e r a t i o n d e c i s i o n t o d e n y a n a b l y s u p p o rt e d b y t h e e v i d e n c e o r w a s a n t h e c i r c u m s t a n c e s o f t h e a p p e l l a n t . e n t t o o r f o r a f a m i l y u n i t t h a t i s e l i g i b l e fo r i f n i n t h e f a m i l y u n i t r e q u i r e s t h e s u p p l e m e n t t o o r o b t a i n a n i t e m u n e x p e c t e d l y n e e d e d a n d i s o r o b t a i n t h e i t e m b e c a u s e t h e r e a r e n o r e s o u r c e s n d a t f a i l u r e t o m e e t t h e e x p e n s e o r o b t a i n t h e i t e m o t h e p h y s i c a l h e a l t h o f a n y p e r s o n i n t h e f a m i l y u n d e r t h e C h i l d , F a m i l y a n d C o m m u n i t y S e r v i c e l y f o r t h e c a l e n d a r m o n t h i n w h i c h t h e a p p l i c a t i o n d f o r t h e p u r p o s e o f o b t a i n i n g n S c h e d u l e C , o r d s o r s e r v i c e s . h e l t e r o r c l o t h i n g i s s u b j e c t t o t h e f o l l o w i n g a m o u n t t h a t m a y b e p r o v i d e d i n a c a l e n d a r m o n t h f a m i l y u n i t ; m a m o u n t t h a t m a y b e p r o v i d e d i n a c a l e n d a r t u a l s h e l t e r c o s t , a n d o u t i n s e c t i o n 4 o f S c h e d u l e A o r T a b l e 2 o f a b l e , f o r a f a m i l y u n i t t h a t m a t c h e s t h e f a m i l y u n i t ; t t h a t m a y b e p r o v i d e d m u s t n o t e x c e e d t h e o n i n t h e f a m i l y u n i t i n t h e 1 2 c a l e n d a r m o n t h a t e o f a p p l i c a t i o n f o r t h e c r i s i s s u p p l e m e n t , a n d y u n i t i n t h e 1 2 c a l e n d a r m o n t h p e r i o d p r e c e d i n g f o r t h e c r i s i s s u p p l e m e n t . e n t s t h a t m a y b e p r o v i d e d t o o r f o r a f a m i l y u n i t l a t e d u n d e r s u b s e c t i o n ( 6 ) .
(6) In the c a l en d a r month in wh i ch t h e ap plic amount under subsection (5) is calcu lated by disability assistance or hardship assistance that m Schedu le A or Schedule D to a family unit that matches th (7) Desp ite s ubsec t ion (4) (b) or (5) or both, famil y unit for the follow i ng: (a) fuel for heating; (b) fuel for cooking meal s; (c) water; (d) hydro. * * Th e ap pel lant 's pos it io n app e ars t o be tha t the current hy the ministry was su ppose d to h a ve paid the a rrears , month to cove r current hy dro e x penses on an ongo i ng basis. exp ense s sh e d o es not h av e enough mo ney to pay f wrote that it is un j u s t to ex pect h er to contin ue with ou st ruggl i ng to survive. S he a ls o argued that she r e c eived ar rears. Finally, the appellant ref erred to sectio n 57 (7)(d) of t he cri s es in a p e rson's l i fe ." The min istry's po sition i s that t he app ellant r e c e i ved her acc ou nt wa s in a rre ars, so th e hy dro bill is not an tha t th e appe llant has n o t provid ed any i nfor mation to confirm with the hydro bill f rom h er f riends, family, la nd lo r d or c it w a s "u nabl e to cla ri f y" when or what the appel lant a r rea r s i n th e am ou nt o f $1, 069 . ( Th e minist ry a p pears to su bmiss i on as being $1,0 09.) Pane l Decision Regarding the appellant's argument that t he hydro arr supposed to have paid on her behalf previously, there is no evide contention. The hydro bill of January 16, 2014 shows a past due amount of $702. charges of $210.34. This tends to indicate that the arrea m inistry accum ulated s ince Octo ber 20 11 as a result of the av $81. 29 that the ministry was paying each month. As to whether the hydro arrears are "unexpected", the panel accepts the ministry's evidence that the appellant received several notices from BC Hydro advising that her account was in arrears. Hydro bill dated January 16, 2014 demonstrates that the appellant either was aware or should have been aware of the acco unt being in arrea rs for se veral a crisis supplement on Sept emb e r 9, 2 0 14. Secti on h dro can in a pro riate circumstanc e s be an unex EAAT 003(1 0/06/01) APPEAL# I at i on or request f or the supp lem ent is mad e, the multipl ying b y 2 the maximum amount of ay be prov i ded fo r the month under e family unit. a c risis suppl em ent may be provided to or fo r a * dro arrears a c cumulated i n the pa s t and th at and then t o h ave c o ntinued paying $81 per Sh e a r g u e d that a fter r en t an d ot he r or her hydro arrear s. In her Notice of Ap pea l she t f u nds s he should be entit l ed to a n d she is just n o p r ior n ot ice t hat h er ac count was in of the EAP WDR to arg u e tha t h ydro i s "one several n o tices from B C Hyd r o advi sing h e r that unexpec ted exp en se . The mini str y a lso arg u ed t h at s he is unable to get as sista nce ommuni ty r esour ces . Th e mi ni st ry arg ued t hat was r eferr ing to regar ding an a gree m e nt to pay have m isread the a mou nt in the appellant's e ar s are a ca r ry-over that t he mini st ry was nce before the panel to su pport h er 40 and current rs of $941.42 quoted by BC Hydro to the e rage mor,thly charge ex c e eding the The BC mon t hs before she approached the ministry for 57 ( 7 )(d) of t he EAPWDR does c ontempl ate t h a t ected ex ense suitable for a crisis su lement.
How e ver, in t he c ircu ms tances of th e a p pellan t's cas e "unexpected" criterio n was rea s o n a ble. Reg a rd i ng the issue of ava i l abil i t y of resources, the le a llow ance in c l u des a n allowa nce for utili t i es. The g ene to arr ang e h is o r her affair s so as to li v e withi n the statutory limits of the b appel lant's si t ua t io n, there is no evid ence that the appel e xpenses or to purs ue pote n t i al ou tside s ources of f und aware that th ere was an amo un t of ar rear s ac cumu lating, the si tuation t o t he min istry's att ention and appea rs to Based o n the foregoing, the pa nel find s that t he mini st n ot sa t i sfied. Conclu s ion Since the criteria i n EA PWDR s. 5 7 (r egar ding the expen resources a vailable to th e family unit) h a ve not bee n deci sion t o d e ny the a pp e ll a nt a crisis supple ment for the app lic able en actmen t in the circu mstanc e s of the EAAT 003(10/06/01) : AP P EAL # the panel finds the min ist ry's decisi o n o n t he g i sl at i v e s chem e is de s ig ned so t h a t the shelter r al sc heme is that each r ec i p i ent i s exp ected enefits provided. In t he lant has t a ke n a ny st eps t o m anag e h e r hydro s. The m on t hl y bill s would have m a d e h e r bu t sh e wai ted for sev era l m onths to b rin g h a ve t ak en no ot he r step s in t he meantim e . ry re a sonably concluded that this c rit eri o n was se b ei n g "unexpect ed" a n d there being no sa tisfie d , th e panel fi nds that the ministry's her hydro bill was a r e a s ona b l e a ppl i cation of a pp e l lant. The m in istr y 's decision is confirmed.
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