Calgarians who once earned steady incomes are now struggling to pay their bills

CALGARY — As cooler weather starts driving up heating costs, Calgary distress centres are finding that more people who once earned steady incomes are now struggling to pay their bills and seeking relief with limited success.

When Alberta’s recession began, the Calgary Distress Centre was busy helping people who were most vulnerable, including those on fixed incomes and receiving social services.

But as the downturn stretched on for months and, now, two years, people who used to be financially comfortable have found themselves unemployed and on the edge.

“These are people who were doing pretty well and now are increasingly exhausting personal savings and still finding it very difficult to get their basic needs met, whether that’s rent, mortgage or utilities,” said David Kirby, clinical services manager at the distress centre.

The centre’s crisis line and 211, an information and referral line for social and community services in the Calgary area, have been fielding calls from people looking for help paying bills or managing anxiety and relationship stress.

A quarter of the phone calls coming into 211 have been linked to financial concerns so far this year: a five-per-cent increase over volumes in 2015, the first year of the recession.

“Many of the people we have talked to in the crisis lines, on 211 or in counselling, they would have never been in the position of having to decide about paying the mortgage or getting something reconnected or even at the end of that, just having enough money to put food on the table,” Kirby said.

“These are people who never saw themselves ever being in this position before, and now have really tough decisions to make.”

Last winter, the Aspen Family and Community Network helped more than 300 families cover utilities bills, a nearly 25-per-cent increase over the pre-recession winter of 2013-2014.

The anti-poverty group also runs a program designed to help people pay their bills to stave off eviction and prevent them from becoming homeless. But rising numbers of people are finding they don’t qualify because they had relatively high incomes before they lost their jobs.

Those are the people that are having a really difficult time finding support

“Those are the people that are also having a really difficult time finding support,” said Shirley Purves, chief executive of Aspen, noting most of the people her group helps live below the poverty line.

Enmax said in a statement it hasn’t seen an increase in the rate of customers not paying their bills this year over 2015 levels, though the public utility noted that last spring and winter were mild.

Still, spokeswoman Doris Kaufmann Woodcock said in an email that anecdotal evidence from distress centres suggests there are rising numbers of people who could be at risk of falling behind on their bills.

She said the utility company works with customers on payment arrangements and directs them to agencies that can help.