With the recent rising cost of living and high cost of inflation “we’re in the worst scenario we’ve seen to date,” said Lisa Needham, nutritionist at WDGPH, who wrote the report. This is locally, provincially and nationally. In 2019, 12.3 per cent of people were living in food insecure households locally and in 2023 it was 23.4 per cent.
A family of four on Ontario Works (OW) would have negative $145 left after monthly expenses since 58 per cent of the family’s income goes to rent and 47 per cent goes to purchasing food as part of the nutritious food basket.
For single person households in the example scenarios “we see really scary findings. We see that they would require another $500 to $750 a month to afford those two basic expenses let alone anything else,” said Needham.
Money for monthly expenses is still short for those in the Ontario Disability Support Program. A single person would see 103 per cent of their income go to rent and 32 per cent to food. This leaves them short by $511 at the end of the month. A single, pregnant person is only marginally better off with 100 per cent of their income going to rent and 33 per cent for food. This leaves them short of $502.
They starve you intending that you go out and look for work. But you can’t afford nice clothes so you get rejected because you look like shit. And you don’t have a working computer so you have to borrow something to apply for jobs on. And then you’re exhausted because you’re stressed and hungry. You miss an interview because they slashed public transit and you showed up late. You get rejected because you walked an hour to an interview and you smell bad now. You’ve been drafted into the reserve army of labour. A living scarecrow to keep those who can find work terrified and working hard.