Situation
In 2022, 2.82 million Ontarians, nearly 19% of households, experienced household food insecurity.1 The situation undoubtedly worsened in 2023, as food prices and overall inflation rates have continued to rise.2
The health consequences of food insecurity are a huge burden on our province’s healthcare system. Not being able to afford food has serious adverse effects on people’s physical and mental health and the ability to lead productive lives. Ontarians living with food insecurity are at greater risk for numerous chronic conditions including mental health disorders, non-communicable diseases (e.g., diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease), and infections.1 People who have chronic conditions and are food insecure are more likely to have negative disease outcomes, be hospitalized, or die prematurely.1 Policies that effectively reduce food insecurity could offset considerable public expenditures on healthcare in Ontario.3
Background
Ontario Dietitians in Public Health (ODPH) is the official voice of Registered Dietitians (RDs) working in Ontario’s public health system. ODPH urges all levels of government to support policies that enhance incomes as the most effective responses to the pervasive and highly prevalent problem of household food insecurity.4
Household food insecurity (HFI) is inadequate or insecure access to food due to household financial constraints. HFI is an urgent public health, human rights, and social justice problem that, if not addressed, will continue to have serious consequences to Ontario’s economic progress as well as the health and well-being of Ontarians.
Social assistance recipients in Ontario have an extremely high risk for food insecurity. Seventy percent of Canadian households with social assistance as their main source of income were food insecure in 2022.1
As stipulated in the Population Health Assessment and Surveillance Protocol5 of the Ontario Public Health Standards (2018), public health units (PHUs) are required to conduct surveillance and periodic reporting to the Ministry of Health on food affordability. This is assessed by comparing food and local housing costs to various household incomes. Food affordability monitoring results from PHUs could be utilized to determine the adequacy of social assistance rates, as recommended to the Minister of Health in recent correspondence from the Association of Local Public Health Agencies.
Assessment
The table below illustrates the results of food affordability monitoring by seven selected PHUs in May/June 2023, specifically among single adults receiving Ontario Works (OW). These data clearly indicate the deep inadequacy of current OW rates, with the monthly shortfall ranging from $337 in Windsor-Essex to $872 in Toronto.
Recipients of OW across the province do not have enough money to afford two of the most basic living expenses: housing and food. The inadequacy of OW for single adults as exemplified by these results requires urgent policy action to increase benefit rates.
OW recipients experience a state of poverty which has become progressively exacerbated by rates that have been frozen since 20186 coupled with extraordinary inflation in recent years. The effects of deep poverty make it difficult for OW recipients to focus on anything but basic day-to-day survival that takes time and energy away from job searching. Prolonged periods of receiving OW, with its dangerously inadequate benefits levels, often result in a severe decline in mental and physical health. Unaddressed, declining health can lead to serious disability, making gainful employment unlikely or impossible.7
In 2022, the Government of Ontario acknowledged the importance of addressing inadequate social assistance rates, as evidenced by the increase to Ontario Disability Support Program rates by 5%, and the commitment to indexing rates to inflation annually.8
Recommendation
As a priority for the 2024 Ontario budget, ODPH strongly urges the Government of Ontario to utilize food affordability monitoring data collected by PHUs to inform necessary increases to Ontario Works rates to reflect basic costs of living and index the rates to inflation.
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 19 January 2024 from https://proof.utoronto.ca/.
- Statistics Canada. (2024). Latest snapshot of the CPI, December 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2024 from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/2018016/cpi-ipc-eng.htm.
- Tarasuk, V., Cheng, J., De Oliveira, C., Dachner, N., Gundersen, C., & Kurdyak, P. (2015). Association between household food insecurity and annual health care costs. Canadian Medical Association Journal, October 06, 2015 187 (14) E429-E436; Retrieved 06 February 2023 from https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.150234.
- Ontario Dietitians in Public Health. (2020). Position Statement and Recommendations on Responses to Food Insecurity. Retrieved 06 February 2023 from https://www.odph.ca/upload/membership/document/2021- 04/ps-eng-corrected-07april21_3.pdf.
- Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. (2018). Population Health Assessment and Surveillance Protocol. Retrieved 06 February 2023 from https://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/publichealth/oph_standards/docs/protocols_guidelines/Popul ation_Health_Assessment_Surveillance_2018_en.pdf.
- Income Security Advocacy Centre. (2023). 22/23 Annual Report. Retrieved 19 January 2023 from https://incomesecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ISAC_anual-report_22-23_En_Web.pdf.
- Hamilton Community Foundation. (2015). Vital Signs 2015. Retrieved 06 February 2023 from https://www.hamiltoncommunityfoundation.ca/vital-signs-2015/barriers-to-employment- 2015/#:~:text=Prolonged%20periods%20on%20OW%2C%20with,gainful%20employment%20unlikely%20or%20impossible.
- Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. (2023). Ontario Disability Support Program. Retrieved 22 January 2024 from https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontario-disability-support-program
