Even more ‘secret’ help is available

Dear editor: I’d like to add, please, a couple points to Brigid Kemp’s excellent letter of March 26, (Lots of help for the taking, Herald).

The federal Disability Tax Credit Certificate can also be assigned to a spouse/partner who is directly involved with assisting the qualifying disabled party. It is now, I believe, a tax credit of up to $7,000 per year, and Brigid made the very valid point that it can be calculated retroactively in many cases, if you’ve been missing out.

This is especially advantageous when the assistant has taxable income, and the disabled one does not, or has lesser income.

Also, there is the provincial SAFER allowance paid monthly, non-taxable, to qualified lowerincome seniors who rent their housing. This now applies also to those who own their mobile home, but rent the pad it sits on. The rental portion of costs is used to calculate the allowance received.

There’s an office in Penticton at which to enquire, located in the building often referred to as “the seniors’ center on Winnipeg Street”.

There are rules, of course, to both these programs, and I’m not an expert, but do know folks that have been approved for one or both of these benefits.

They are worth pursuing, and I agree that we hear far too little from the various levels of government about help available to us. Doesn’t it just figure? Mavis Hartford Penticton