Understanding the Homelessness Income Cut-Off (HICO) in Alberta
People living on low incomes make extraordinary sacrifices to avoid becoming homeless, sacrifices such as moving into substandard housing, relying on food banks, and cutting back on basic needs. This is why Canada’s official poverty line is not a sufficient measure of the income required to maintain housing.
The Homelessness Income Cut-Off (HICO) is a new, evidence-based tool that estimates the income needed to prevent homelessness after individuals and families have exhausted all possible cost-cutting strategies. Unlike the poverty line, the HICO captures the real cost of staying housed in the face of rising shelter and food costs, and stagnant income supports.
The HICO and Alberta’s Affordability Crisis
In Alberta, social assistance rates are not enough to keep people housed. The HICO provides a practical benchmark that policymakers can use to assess the adequacy of income support programs. By comparing existing benefits with the HICO, decision-makers can better understand how shortfalls in support contribute to homelessness, and how targeted increases could help prevent it.
A Policy Tool for Homelessness Prevention
This policy brief draws on data from a report titled “The Homelessness Income Cut-Off (HICO). The brief provides governments with a concrete benchmark for setting income support rates that truly prevent homelessness. With housing and food costs rising across Alberta, adjusting income supports to meet the HICO is an urgent strategy for addressing the province’s growing affordability crisis