Ontario Dietitians in Public Health (ODPH) appreciates the opportunity to contribute to the development of the next Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy (OPRS). ODPH is the professional association of Registered Dietitians (RDs) working in Ontario’s public health system. One of ODPH’s key priorities is working towards effective solutions to reduce household food insecurity (HFI).
HFI is the inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints (Li et al., 2023). The experience of HFI can range from concerns or problems of food access (marginal HFI), to the inability to afford a balanced diet and/or missing meals (moderate HFI), to extreme cases of not eating for days (severe HFI). It is a critical indicator of a household’s financial situation. When households have trouble affording food, it shows they cannot meet basic needs because they do not have enough money. HFI is a highly sensitive measure of material deprivation making it an important measure for understanding poverty and guiding policy decisions.
HFI has increased dramatically over the past several years. In 2024, 1 in 4 Ontario households experienced HFI; this translates to over 4 million Ontarians (PROOF, 2025b). This is an increase of over 1.7 million Ontarians since 2021 (Tarasuk et al., 2022). Households with children are at particularly high risk, with 1 in 3 children in Ontario living in a food insecure household in 2024 (PROOF, 2025b).
HFI is a major financial liability for Ontario’s healthcare system. Adults living with HFI account for a disproportionate share of health care costs, including mental health-related emergency visits and hospitalizations, with the greatest costs associated with severe HFI (PROOF, ND). Without effective policy action, HFI will continue to escalate with worsening consequences to Ontario’s economic progress and to the health and well-being of Ontarians.
The OPRS must prioritize adequate incomes for Ontario households to afford basic costs of living, including adequate shelter and nutritious food. ODPH commends the Ontario government’s recent efforts to support vulnerable Ontarians, including increasing the earned income exemption for the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) from $200 to $1000, indexing ODSP rate increases to inflation that began in July 2023, exempting the Canada Disability Benefit from social assistance payment clawbacks, and increasing the minimum wage rate from $14/hour in January 2020 to $17.60/hour in October 2025. These are important measures for strengthening income security in Ontario.
Building on these important steps, ODPH offers the following recommendations for the 2025-2030 OPRS.
Recommendation 1: Improve employment income adequacy
While the recent increases to minimum wage have been much needed, the current rate of $17.60/hour (Government of Ontario, 2025) falls short for the over 800,000 employees in Ontario who earn minimum wage.
The Ontario Living Wage Network prepares annual living wage rate calculations based on real costs of living across the province. The living wage in Ontario in 2025 ranges from $21.05/hour in the London Elgin Oxford region to $27.20/hour in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (Ontario Living Wage Network, 2025). Nowhere in Ontario could someone work full time earning minimum wage at $17.60/hour and afford the basic costs of living. Aligning annual increases to Ontario’s minimum wage with living wage rates will ensure all working Ontarians can afford basic needs, including food.
Employment does not guarantee protection against HFI. In 2022, 58.6% of Ontario households experiencing HFI reported employment or self-employment as their main source of income (Li et al., 2023). To reduce HFI, jobs need to provide a living wage, stable hours, benefits, and protections against precarious work.
Recommendation 2: Strengthen social assistance
- Ontario Works (OW): increase the rates and index rates to inflation annually;
- Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP): increase the rates;
- Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Nutritional Allowance (ODSP Policy Directive 6.5 and OW Policy Directive 6.5): increase the monthly amounts; and
- Special Diet Allowance (ODSP Policy Directive 6.4 and OW Policy Directive 6.6): increase the monthly amounts for all eligible conditions.
Households reliant on social assistance experience the highest prevalence and severity of HFI. In 2023, 70% of households relying on OW or ODSP were food-insecure and 43% were severely so (PROOF, 2025a). This is because social assistance income for both OW and ODSP are far below Canada’s Official Poverty Line (the Market Basket Measure, or MBM), with most recipients living in deep poverty, income below 75% of the MBM (Laidley & Oliveira, 2025).
The current maximum amounts for a single individual to cover basic needs and shelter each month are $733 for OW and $1,408[1]. for ODSP. These rates are far from adequate for an individual to afford housing and nutritious food anywhere in Ontario. It is particularly concerning that OW rates have not been increased since October 1, 2018, with more than 20% inflation since then; this loss in purchasing power means a significant worsening in a person’s standard of living (Tabbara & Laidley, 2024).
The monthly allocations in the OW and ODSP Policy Directives for the Pregnancy/Breastfeeding Nutritional Allowance and Special Diet Allowance have not been reviewed or increased in over a decade, even though the cost of food and infant formula have increased significantly.
Local public health units (PHUs) in Ontario monitor food affordability by reviewing the cost of a basic nutritious diet (not considering any special dietary needs) and local rental housing rates within the context of a variety of household income scenarios. Data collected by 32 PHUs in 2024, averaged and weighted proportionally by population, showed households dependent on social assistance could not afford a basic nutritious diet. To do so, households reliant on social assistance would need to allocate an unreasonable proportion of their income to food: $1,229/month (42%) for a family of four receiving OW; $427/month (48%) for a single adult receiving OW; and $451/month (30%) for a single pregnant person receiving OW (Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, 2025).
[1] Note: ODPH acknowledges an error in the original submission of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Consultation, November 2025. The submission incorrectly stated that the current maximum basic needs and shelter allowances for a single individual receiving ODSP were $1534/month. This figure was incorrect, and it has since been corrected to $1408/month.
Recommendation 3: Set measurable targets to reduce HFI and eliminate severe HFI by 2030
HFI is a reliable marker for economic hardship. Establishing measurable targets ensures accountability, provides clear benchmarks to monitor progress and impact, and supports the implementation of evidence-informed policies. Having targets also demonstrates Ontario’s commitment to equity, health, and economic stability by addressing the root cause of HFI, rather than relying on ineffective, short-term food-based responses.
HFI is not a food problem and cannot be solved by food charity or other programs, such as community gardens or food waste diversion initiatives (Ontario Dietitians in Public Health, 2020). Poverty places significant downstream pressures on municipalities to deliver essential public services and respond to increasing demands on social programs (e.g., emergency supports for people without adequate shelter and food) with limited sources of revenue and resources to do so. In the past 12 months, several Ontario municipalities declared food insecurity emergencies, including Mississauga, November 2024; Toronto, December 2024; Kingston, January 2025; Brantford, February 2025; and Brockville, June 2025. These declarations clearly demonstrate HFI has reached crisis levels across Ontario, resulting in an unsustainable demand on the charitable food system, and requiring municipal governments and community organizations to call on Provincial and Federal governments to step in with long-term policy solutions.
The urgency of this recommendation is evident in the sharp rise in severe HFI in Ontario, which increased from 4.8% of households in 2022 to 7.9% in 2024 (Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, 2025). HFI is strongly linked to income, disproportionately affecting those with inadequate or unstable income, few assets and limited access to credit (Li et al., 2023). As income decreases, both the risk and severity of HFI increases, making income-based policy solutions critical.
In conclusion, ODPH urges immediate and sustained investment to reduce poverty in Ontario. Without bold, measurable action, poverty will continue to erode community well-being, strain municipal resources, and deepen inequities across the province. Addressing poverty is not only a social responsibility – it is also an economic imperative.
References
Li T, Fafard St-Germain AA, Tarasuk V. (2023) Household food insecurity in Canada, 2022. Toronto: Research to identify policy options to reduce food insecurity (PROOF). Retrieved from: https://proof.utoronto.ca/
Government of Ontario, Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. (2025) News Release: Ontario Raising Minimum Wage to Protect Workers. Available at: https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1006550/ontario-raising-minimum-wage-to-protect-workers
Laidley J, Oliveira T. (2025) Welfare in Canada, 2024. Maytree. Retrieved from: https://maytree.com/
Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (Public Health Ontario). (2025) Food insecurity & food affordability in Ontario. Toronto, ON: King’s Printer for Ontario. Retrieved from: https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/Health-Topics/Health-Equity
Ontario Dietitians in Public Health. (2020) Position Statement and Recommendations on Responses to Food Insecurity. Available at: https://odph.ca/section/food-insecurity/
Ontario Living Wage Network. (2025) Updated 2025 Rates. Available at: https://www.ontariolivingwage.ca/updated_2025_rates
PROOF (Food Insecurity Policy Research). (2025a) Ontario Election 2025: Putting a plan for adequate social assistance on the table. Available at: https://proof.utoronto.ca/2025/ontario-election-2025-putting-a-plan-for-adequate-social-assistance-on-the-table/
PROOF (Food Insecurity Policy Research). (2025b) New data on household food insecurity in 2024. Available at: https://proof.utoronto.ca/2025/new-data-on-household-food-insecurity-in-2024/
PROOF (Food Insecurity Policy Research). (ND) What are the implications of food insecurity for health and health care? Available at: https://proof.utoronto.ca/food-insecurity/what-are-the-implications-of-food-insecurity-for-health-and-health-care/
Tarasuk V, Li T, Fafard St-Germain AA. (2022) Household food insecurity in Canada, 2021. Toronto: Research to identify policy options to reduce food insecurity (PROOF). Retrieved from: https://proof.utoronto.ca/
Tabbara M and Laidley J. (2024) Too many income supports still aren’t indexed. Maytree. Available at: https://maytree.com/publications/too-many-income-supports-still-arent-indexed/
