Food Affordability in Sudbury and Districts

Family of 4, Ontario Works. Monthly income $2,815. Rent $1,473 (52% of income). Cost of a nutritious diet $1,166 (41% of income). What’s left? $176.

Single-parent household with 2 children, Ontario Works. Monthly income $2,581. Rent $1,254 (49% of income). Cost of a nutritious diet $858 (33% of income). What’s left? $469.

One-person household, Ontario Works. Monthly income $879. Rent $796 (91% of income). Cost of a nutritious diet $419 (48% of income). What’s left? -$336.

One-person household, Ontario Disability Support Program. Monthly income $1,383. Rent $930 (67% of income). Cost of a nutritious diet $419 (30% of income). What’s left? $34.

The root cause of food insecurity is poverty. Charitable food programs such as food banks are our primary response to food insecurity. Charitable food programs, however, do not address poverty. We need a sustainable income solution to this problem².

We can do this by:

• Learning more about
  • household food insecurity (PROOF) (1.36 MB)
  • structural determinants of health (NCCDH)
• Supporting
  • a basic income (OBIN) guarantee
  • an adequate increase in social assistance rates
  • a minimum wage rate that aligns with the cost of living
  • access to community tax clinics to ensure everyone receives all the benefits they deserve

• Food Insecurity Policy Research – an interdisciplinary research team investigating household food insecurity in Canada PROOF
• Ontario Dietitians in Public Health Position Statement and Recommendations on Responses to Food Insecurity (1.16 MB)
• Ontario Basic Income Network https://www.obin.ca/
• Public Health Sudbury & Districts, 705.522.9200, ext. 257 (toll-free 1.866.522.9200)

Note:
Canada’s Food Guide and the Ontario Nutritious Food Basket, the tools used for monitoring food affordability, are not inclusive for all religious and cultural groups. Nor do they acknowledge traditional Indigenous foods and food procurement practices. Public Health Sudbury & Districts recognizes this as a significant limitation of this data collection.

When gathering food price information, in the event preferred items are unavailable, proxy items of similar nutrition and price may be used. There may be minor differences between nutrition and/or price between the preferred and proxy items.

1 Li T, Fafard St-Germin AA, Tarasuk, V. (2023) Household food insecurity in Canada, 2022. Toronto: Research to identify policy options to reduce food insecurity (PROOF)  PROOF – Identifying policy options to reduce household food insecurity (utoronto.ca)

2 Ontario Dietitians in Public Health. (2020). Position Statement and Recommendations on Responses to Food Insecurity. Retrieved from: https://www.odph.ca/upload/membership/document/2021-04/ps-eng-corrected-07april21_3.pdf