The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - Rising Food Bank Use A Symptom of Ontario's Affordability Crisis

Episode Date: October 8, 2024

For the first time, more than 1 million Ontarians visited a food bank in the last year. And that's the eighth year in a row that that number has increased. And the future doesn't look much better. Two-thirds of groups that make up Ontario's food bank network say that they fear they will not be able to meet future demand, leaving people hungry. Carolyn Stewart, Chief Executive Officer of Feed Ontario, says that the data is another result of Ontario' affordability crisis. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More than one million Ontarians visited a food bank in the last year. The eighth year in a row that number has increased and the future doesn't look much better. Two-thirds of the groups that make up Ontario's food bank network say they fear they will now be able to meet future demand, leaving people hungry. For a look at the causes of the problem and ideas on how to address it, we're joined by Carolyn Stewart, CEO of Feed Ontario. Welcome. Thanks so much for having me. It's really nice to have you in studio because a few weeks ago when you announced this astronomical figure of a million Ontarians now using food banks, you asked people to remember that this wasn't just a stat. Why was it important for you to make it clear that this number represents adults,

seniors, children, the people in our communities? Such a great question. You know, I think sometimes with statistics, people and faces get lost in the numbers. But what we try to make sure people understand is that these are neighbors in your community. You know, unfortunately, hunger doesn't discriminate here in Ontario or anywhere across Canada, quite frankly. And so we're seeing people from all walks of life. And realistically, times are going to be incredibly challenging for so many people.

And so when we hear this number, we don't want it to just be something that sits on the back burner. But the next time you go to work, you think it could be potentially my colleague. It could be potentially my colleague. It could be a child sitting beside my child in a classroom. It could be someone sitting next to me on the bus.

That's members of your community that are struggling every single day to put food on the table. When you hear that number, a million people in this province not having enough food to eat, you think, how can that be happening in this province not having enough food to eat. You think how can that be happening in a province like Ontario because Ontario is a wealthy province. Is it wrong to think that Ontario is a province that's doing well? I think you have to look at different parts of data to determine what well means to you,

right? And so yes, certain statistics like if we look at jobs, you know, we're creating jobs, which is great, but are they the right kinds of jobs? Are they paying people a livable wage? Do they provide benefits? Do they provide sick days? Are they providing equal pay for equal work? Because we're seeing a growing number of employed individuals accessing food banks. On the other side, is it somewhere where housing is accessible or affordable? You know when we look at food bank clients they're spending over 70% of their monthly income on housing leaving very little for

everything else. Do they have proper, does Ontario have proper supports in place? So does their social assistance programs provide the support that's needed to make cost of living every single month? which right now unfortunately they don't. We're looking at rates that we saw in 1993 comparable to today and so all of these things really contribute to a successful and thriving province but realistically when over a million people so I think that's close to one in 14 Ontarians are having to access a food bank just to So I think that's close to one in 14 Ontarians are having to access a food bank just to get by.

So that's not even to thrive or survive. That's just to get by every month. To me, that demonstrates that this province is not successful when our most vulnerable are not able to meet their most basic needs. One in 14, that means our neighbors, people that we might know. And you said that 70% of people are spending 70% of their income on housing.

So that's not obviously like a budgeting problem. It's not that people are budgeting correctly. Who would you say is using the food banks? Great question. So we are seeing people from all walks of life. About 30% of those that we serve as our children. Now one in six people is employed. from all walks of life. About 30% of those that we serve as our children. Now one in six people is employed.

Over 50% of adults are on some form of social assistance. So that's on the Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Program. Even we see seniors. We're seeing a growing number of students. So we now have a food bank on every university campus in the province because really everyone's being affected by the cost of living crisis, the inflation, and then the compounding effects of the pandemic are really affecting those who are already on the cusp, are unfortunately falling into poverty and looking for assistance. And so they're having to turn to the food bank. You mentioned the cost of living, jobs. Does the cost of groceries play a role? Because I think if anyone goes to the

grocery store things cost more. We're dealing with shrink-flation. Is that playing a role in people not being able to afford groceries? Yeah, affordability of any kind is really impacting, you impacting, people can only stretch a dollar so far. And really we're seeing the results of decades of underinvestment, right? We're seeing decades of underinvestment into social programs. So Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program

provides you less than 50% below the poverty line. So you can barely make ends meet on that. But then we're looking at housing. We have stopped building purpose-built housing over the last two decades. So, you know, rental tenants, so 90% of food bank clients are rental tenants or social housing tenants. So when we're not building the type of housing that people need, all of these things are starting to compound and making things increasingly unaffordable or inaccessible. And then we've added a pandemic. We've added inflation. And then we've added the affordability crisis

that we're seeing now. And so groceries, when making difficult decisions every month, people are saying, do I pay my rent or do I buy food? Do I get my medication, which I desperately need, or do I buy food? And because there's an, which I desperately need, or do I buy food? And because there's an alternative for food at the food bank, people are having to make that very difficult choice. And so we're seeing the demand increase astronomically

as people try to make those difficult choices every day. You know, that seems like an impossible situation to be in when you have to decide whether or not you should pay your rent or whether or not you should buy your groceries or whether or not you should be getting your medicines. What worries you most about that situation when people have to make those difficult decisions? You know I think sometimes people get the impression that people who are accessing food banks do it by choice, right? They've made, you know, they should just get up for that

while they're allowed to go get up and get a job and you'll be fine. But, you know, one in six people that we're seeing is employed and that's the fastest rising group of food bank clients is actually employed individuals. So, you know, it's no fault of their own. You know, I was recently on a media interview where people called in. It was, you know, they were seeing a marital breakdown.

They experienced health problems. So they had to burn through their savings. And they didn't have benefits provided through their work. There are all sorts of scenarios and life challenges that direct people to have to need assistance. And so what worries me so much is that people don't understand that social safety nets are supposed to be built to protect us during those hard times when so many things are outside of our control that to help us get back on our feet.

But the lack of focus on those programs over so many years has meant that people have nowhere to turn and are having to make these impossibly hard decisions. I can't imagine having to decide between buying food or a winter coat for my child or having to decide, can I get to work that day on transit or do I keep my lights on? You know, these are the decisions that people that are visiting our services are having to make every single day and not one of those decisions. They're having to make countless of those decisions every single day just to make it to the end of the month.

I like your thinking the amount of stress that people are going through when you think that we live in such a rich country, a rich province, and you mentioned that people, because I think people have an idea, maybe a stereotype of who accesses food banks, and you mentioned that some of these people are working. I've also read that some people who have homes, who own their homes, are also accessing food banks. How many of your users are employed full-time or hold multiple jobs? So and when we're looking at it, I think it's almost 25% of adults who are accessing our services

hold employment. And so many of the time when we're talking about people are accessing services, they may potentially be on minimum wage or very frequently hold multiple jobs, so multiple gig jobs. So that's another huge issue that we're seeing affecting food bank use is the types of jobs. So you know one in ten workers now in the provinces employed under the gig economy. They're not clever covered by the Employment Standards Act and so they don't get the proper support and or coverage or protections as someone with a full-time job with benefits and proper pay. They're also not eligible for federal programs like employment insurance depending on how many hours and how that plays into it. And so all of these protections again that were

supposed to be built were built in a time where people work nine to five, they had the same job for 30 years, they didn't work multiple. They had a pension. They had a pension, all those really wonderful things that were protections, they were the systems were built in that time and they haven't modernized to reflect the living of today.

And that's the problem, you know, we're here living in today, but the systems aren't meeting our demands. Yeah, people have to figure out how to survive. Another group of students, because when you're a student, but the systems aren't meeting our demands. Yeah, people have to figure out how to survive. Another group is students, because when you're a student, not only do you have to worry about going to your classes, getting good grades, maybe even working part-time,

but if you're working part-time, maybe you don't have the means to eat properly and afford the groceries. Yeah, so really, you know, food insecurity is an income issue, having sufficient income to be able to afford your most basic necessities. So anyone who's on a limited income, like a student or a senior or someone who cannot, has a very basic income, they don't have

that flexibility if one month cost of groceries gets very expensive or their car breaks down and they need to fix it. All of those are just one-off expenses that you're unprecedented. When those throw a wrench in their plans, then it becomes very hard to navigate how they're going to make it to the end of the month. Ultimately, that's why food banks were created in the 80s, right? During the recession in the 80s, there

was that kind of period of time. There was about three days for people to get to the end of the month. And that was what we were, that emergency stopgap measure, to get people to the end of the month and that was what we were. We're that emergency stopgap measure to get people to the end of the month but what we've seen since then is that we've become increasingly relied on to fill the gaps in that social safety net when disinvestments have no programs have happened and so we're seeing more and more people access food banks because the government support programs and systems

are not there to provide the supports that they're supposed to to help get back people back on their feet. And for those who can work, get back to work. You're an essential lifeline. I'm going to bring up the government in just a little bit. Yeah. But you stated in a previous interview that, quote, many of those former donors, people who give food to food banks

are in fact turning to food banks for support. What does that say about the state of food banks and how close people in this province are to not having anywhere to turn to? You know, I think it really speaks to the precarity and fragility of our network right now. You know, we weren't built to withstand this level of demand, nor how quickly it has grown. So we've seen 135% increase in the amount of visits since pre-pandemic numbers, right?

Like, in the last year, a 25% increase. And so, you know, food banks are really struggling to keep up, particularly because we rely on the generosity of individuals and companies to support our needs. Food banks are not government funded. Some receive some regional or municipal support, but most receive no government funding. And so we rely on those individuals to make sure that we can operate. But in many communities, there's a fine line between those who are accessing the food banks

and those who are providing those generous support. And so when you don't have that extra dollar at the end of the month, you know, people are, you can only stretch the dollar so far and people are having to stretch dollars very far as housing increases, as cost of living increases, as groceries increase, they have less money for those extras and so they can no longer donate. And when we saw many people in the cusp, we have food banks reporting, they're now seeing donors as clients to their services. And so, you know, I think that just reflects the really true reality that anyone may be

in need of a food bank in some point in their life, and also that something needs to change, right? We don't, that's not the community. I don't think that's what anyone in Ontario wants to see in their community or in their province. And I think we can do a lot better. We want to see people thrive. Yeah. You talked a little bit about people who are on limited incomes because, or fixed incomes,

because you can't really find money elsewhere. Could you please explain how restrictions on social programs like Ontario Works or the Ontario Disability Support Program could be driving more people to access food banks? Yeah, so as I mentioned, you know, both those programs put you significantly below the poverty line and in many cases the system for Ontario Works was actually built as a temporary solution for when people can't find work and to get back on their feet. But right now, if you're on Ontario Works, you get $733 a month. The average one-bedroom apartment is somewhere around $2,000.

So even if we're talking about housing alone, you're far surpassing that. Then you're supposed to be able to afford transit to work. You're supposed to afford food to be able to have the energy to work, all of those wonderful things. And so it keeps you in a position where it's almost legislating you into poverty, right? We're asking, you know, the Ontario government did great in tying the Ontario Disability Support Program to inflation in 2018, I believe it was, so that the program increases along with cost of living.

They did not do that with Ontario Works. So I think that's a much, you know, that's one of the recommended changes that our organization makes to make sure that it's keeping in line with that, but also increasing the rates so at least people have the income they need to get back on their feet. And for someone living with a disability, you know, there are all those extra additional

costs, medication, extra supports, transit needs, housing needs that differ significantly from, you know, an average individual. And so all of those considerations are needed when making changes to program. Again, I go back to what I say around modernizing programs. We have to make sure it reflects the realities that someone's living as opposed to what you want them to live. And to make those changes so that the programs are effective because the more effective they are the less people need to rely on them.

Well, you mentioned the government. What are some steps governments could take to lessen the number of people using food banks right now? Yeah, our recommendations really center around three key things. So, labor and jobs, social assistance and housing. For labor and jobs, what we talked about at the beginning. So, making sure that there's things like equal pay for equal work. Even something as simple as a paid sick day

can make a huge difference for people. If they're, do I stay home with my sick child or miss my shift and not pay rent that much? Those are huge things. They seem inconsequential, but they're massive for people. Making sure that the ESA reflects today's living living for housing, meeting those targets outlined in the national housing strategy or even surpassing them to ensure that we're accessing or creating the access to housing,

you know, making sure that we're putting in rent productions because right now that's a huge issue with 90% of the people that visit our services on rent, renters, sorry. And so when rent is increasing so astronomically year over year, it's creating a lot of issues here in Ontario. And really social assistance, as we talked about, making sure that we're raising the rates, we're reducing clawbacks in the program so that we're incentivizing going back to work.

And, you know, there's more outlined details on these recommendations on our website, which I encourage everyone to go take a look at. You know, as a mother, I'm just someone that lives in this province that's benefited from being in Ontario. It's really heartbreaking to know that there are children, youth, that need to access food banks. In April, the federal government announced the National School Food Program. Has that program made a noticeable difference in the number of kids that access food banks in April the federal government announced the National School Food Program. Has that program made a noticeable difference in the

number of kids that access food banks? So it's still being rolled out so I don't think it's had the impact yet but it is a huge step forward. Even knowing that there's a guaranteed meal coming somewhere can make a huge difference for you know families that are really trying to make it to the end of the month and have sufficient food, nutritious food, to feed their children. So I know the federal government has just released investments in terms of making sure that organizations have the proper capacity to support this growing program, but I do think that's an incredible step in the right direction to ensure that parents can feed

their kids, because oftentimes in food insecure households, we're seeing parents skipping meals to feed their children, having to make less healthy choices, to have sufficient food to make it to the end of the month, and a lot of difficult choices around those sorts of decisions. So a school new-pursuing program is so essential in providing that extra bit of security for children every single day. A guaranteed meal that's healthy, nutritious, and supportive. We're in the holiday season

and when you think about a million people who are faced with making the difficult choice of buying rent or buying groceries or getting their essential medicine, Is what's happening right now, do you think in your opinion, is this a canary in the coal mine for potentially a bigger crisis if more isn't done to help people out? We do. I'm very, it keeps me up at night to be to be quite honest. You know there was a study done in McMaster University with our member Hamilton Food Chair that said,

you know, food banks are that last line of defense before homelessness, because people are having to make those difficult choices. And so if food banks can no longer provide the support to everyone, it means we're going to see more individuals having to be unhoused, to be homeless. And then that is an even more significant crisis we are seeing on our hands. We know that there's already a housing and homelessness

crisis in this province, but if we can no longer keep up with demand, then we're going to see more people having a difficult choice on their hands. And so we are trying to ring the alarm bells to make sure people understand the severity of the situation that we're seeing here in Ontario and to truly understand that you know food insecurity is one symptom of poverty and a much larger complex issue and we don't think there's any silver bullet to addressing it but there are definitely policy levers that can be pulled to help turn the tide on this and help make sure

it doesn't get worse than it already is. We know that Ontarians are very generous. We've seen during the pandemic how people came together to help one another. If people, you know, watching at home would like to help, what is the best way for them to go about helping food banks? Yeah, if people have the capacity, we're so grateful for your support. You can you know visit your local food bank all of them have lists online lists of food much most needed items online. You can visit our website feedontario.ca for every one dollar donated to our organization we can provide the equivalent to two meals and to someone in need or even donate food at your local food bank, your local grocery store

or if you're here in the GTA you can even donate at a local fire hall and they'll drop it off for you as well. So really any, even a single dollar can help make sure that we can keep our doors open and continuing to provide support while we find those solutions. Our appreciation to Feed Ontario and the work that you are all doing to raise this alarm and for us to reach our handout to help our neighbors in need. Thank you so much for your time, Carolyn.

Thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it.