In 1986, Emery Barnes wanted to raise B.C.'s welfare rate for a single person to $700 a month.

The NDP MLA for Vancouver Centre at the time, he lived for seven weeks on welfare to bolster his argument the rate was too low. He gave up his car, distanced himself from his family and moved into a low-cost room.

Twenty-five years after his attempt to boost welfare payments, the rate is $610.

Now his daughter, Vision Vancouver park board commissioner Constance Barnes, is helping Raise the Rates launch its MLA Welfare Challenge.

Raise the Rates, a coalition of more than 20 organizations concerned with poverty and homelessness in B.C., sent a letter to each B.C. MLA and their party leaders May 25 urging them to live on the province's social assistance rate of $610 for one month.

Raise the Rates believes the experience would give MLAs insight into what they need to change to alleviate poverty in B.C.

Barnes clearly remembers the pain her father, who had serious back problems, suffered from sleeping on a mattress on the floor and how thin the former B.C. Lions player became, losing more than 30 pounds.

He didn't get the welfare rates raised but Barnes says her father boosted awareness about the struggles of surviving on social assistance.

"What dad did is brought a very honest reality to this struggle and how hard it is and also how it keeps you down," she said. "He was a very strong, powerful presence and they watched him deteriorate. It broke his spirit. You're tired and you're hungry and you're sleeping in a small room. Your bathroom's down the hall... There're no dollars for entertainment or to just get out and do anything... It keeps you down."

Single people without a disability receive $375 for shelter a month and $235 for food and other expenses.

A 2010 survey of rents in the Downtown Eastside by the Carnegie Community Action Project found only 12 per cent of hotels in the neighbourhood rent rooms for $375.

The Dieticians of Canada reported in 2009 that a healthy diet for a man between the ages of 19 and 30 would cost $269 a month and $244 for a man between the ages of 31 and 50.

Using a Bank of Canada inflation calculator and estimates from Social Planning and Research BC, Raise the Rates argues welfare for a single person should be $1,290 a month.

Challenge organizer Bill Hopwood maintains a higher rate wouldn't make recipients so comfortable they wouldn't try to work their way off social assistance because most people don't want to be on welfare.

"They want to have an independent life," he said. "Even at that figure it's not comfortable. You're still not having a holiday."

Hopwood said statistics reveal half of welfare recipients are single, 40 per cent are single parent families and 10 per cent are couples. He says people need welfare after their employment insurance runs out, following a marital breakdown or after a serious injury, in addition to when they have disabilities or addiction problems.

As of May 31, no MLAs had signed up, but Hopwood wasn't surprised. Raise the Rates asked MLAs to accept the challenge by June 16.

Raise the Rates was heartened by the recent increase to the B.C. minimum wage and Hopwood notes both Liberal Premier Christy Clark and NDP leader Adrian Dix have said tackling poverty is a priority.

"That's part of why we're doing it now," he said. "It's being talked about after not being talked about for a long time."

crossi@vancourier.com

Twitter: @Cheryl_Rossi