The budget for "Community Living" was $630.8 million last year, and it is scheduled to be cut to $603 million for the fiscal year starting April 1, 2004 even though the caseload is increasing (by 4% per year). Community Living is the name given to services that are provided to adults with IQs of 70 or less. According to the Ministry's website, they funded 9,143 adults with developmental disabilities receiving community living services, including more than 5,400 living in residential care funded by the ministry.

Minister Gordon Hogg's plan for implementing further cuts to Community Living includes a shift of responsibility to a "provincial authority" that is like a regional health board. Hogg has been told that his provincial authority is not ready to accept its responsibilities by the scheduled transition date of June 2004.

It appears that the only reason the Campbell government is proceeding with offloading responsibility for Community Living is so that it can make budget cuts. In simple terms, the average cost per disadvantaged adult living in residential care was about $64,000 per year. By comparison, the cost to government of "supporting" a single person on welfare is a maximum of $6,120 per year. When a mean spirited government looks at those numbers, it responds by slashing services to developmentally disadvantaged adults. Those who ignore the attacks on people who cannot defend themselves need to think about how the same philosophy can be used to justify the elimination of other government services. An enormous hole has been cut in our social safety net.

Hogg tries to justify his budget cuts by claiming that "individualized" funding provides better services than residential living. He gave the truth away in the covering letter to his ministry's service plan when he wrote "From 2002/03 to 2005/06, the ministry's budget will decrease by 19 per cent, or $305 million. It is critical that the ministry meets this target, while maintaining or enhancing the quality of life for many of B.C.'s most vulnerable children, youth, and adults with developmental disabilities and their families." Although the cuts have been reduced, it bears remembering that the Minister of Finance told Hogg that he has substantially less money to do the job, so Hogg is trying to convince people that service can be enhanced while he makes the cuts. It is no wonder that the government has a credibility gap.