Rent benefit changes cause stress
By Lethbridge Herald on September 5, 2025.
Alex Noad
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A Medicine Hat woman says she will be paying an extra $100 a month in rent due to changes in the Alberta Rent Assistance Program (ARAP).
Monica Van Iderstine relies on Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) to pay the majority of her expenses. For the last nine years she has lived in the same ground-level apartment and receives $422 dollars to help cover her rent.
She recently received a letter from the Alberta government informing her that income from employment and assistance programs such as AISH would now be treated equally, which means the percentage of her fixed income going to rent would rise to 30 per cent from its current 17 per cent.
Currently, ARAP recipients earning an income from employment are calculated at 30 per cent of their income, with no exemptions. Meanwhile those on social assistance, such as AISH, are exempt from the first $900 dollars they receive and pay 30 per cent on the remainder.
Robin James, chief administrative officer for Lethbridge Housing Authority, says this change was about equity and not penalizing those who chose to work. Van Iderstine says this change is taking from the poorest of the poor in a time when the cost of living continues to rise sharply.
“You don’t take from the poor; if (the government) needs to save money I’m sure there’s other places (they) could look.”
James explains the federal government has deemed 30 per cent of income going to rent as affordable, which is the metric the Alberta government used as a basis for the Alberta Rent Assistance Program.
Beginning Oct. 1, those on ARAP will have an annual review, after which they will be given 90 days notice of changes to their benefits.
For Van Iderstine, this money translate into a $100 monthly increase in rent. That will take some of the food off her table and mean fewer outings for her and her grandson, of whom she has custody.
11-10
Smith is ruthless in her financial bludgeoning of Albertans on fixed and/or low income. There’s not a week goes by that she doesn’t make decisions and policies that negatively impact most Albertans.