Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit launches new food insecurity dashboard

The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health unit has issued the following statement today.

 

New Health Unit Dashboard Reveals Urgent Need to Address Food Insecurity
Families and individuals continue to struggle in the HKPR District Region to afford basic needs.

 The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (HKPR) District Health Unit has launched a new Food Insecurity Dashboard revealing the rising challenges faced by local families struggling to afford healthy food across the City of Kawartha Lakes, County of Haliburton and Northumberland County. The dashboard and accompanying infographics shed light on the financial struggles many experience due to low incomes and insufficient social assistance.

The Food Insecurity Dashboard allows users to explore the data interactively, comparing household income scenarios, annual trends, and regional variations. Accompanying the dashboard are infographics tailored to each county, illustrating the precarious financial situations faced by food-insecure households and the difficult choices they are forced to make between basic needs, such as housing, food, utilities, transportation and clothing. According to the data, a family of four (two adults, two children) would have spent on average $1,237 per month towards eating healthy in 2024.

“Minimum wage and social assistance rates are just not keeping up with the significant rising costs of basic necessities like food, housing and utilities,” says Sarah Tsang, Registered Dietitian and Health Equity Coordinator with the HKPR District Health Unit. “Food insecurity is not a matter of diet; it is a serious public health issue that leads to long-term physical and mental health challenges.”

The Food Insecurity Dashboard clearly demonstrates the growing gap between income and the cost of basic needs. For instance, a family of four with one minimum wage earner spends over 90 per cent of their income on rent and food, leaving only a few hundred dollars to cover all other living expenses.

The situation is even more dire for individuals and families reliant on social assistance. The dashboard reveals:

• A family of four on Ontario Works living in Northumberland County would need an additional $1,356 every month to just cover the costs of rent and food.
• A single person with Old Age Security/Guaranteed Income Supplement in the City of Kawartha Lakes has only $75 remaining every month to pay for other necessities, after paying for rent and food.
• A single person on Ontario Works living in the County of Haliburton would need an additional $903 every month to just cover the costs of rent and food.

 What is Food Insecurity?
Food insecurity, defined as the lack of access to food due to insufficient income, forces individuals and families to make tough choices each month. These difficult decisions often mean choosing between paying for rent or putting food on the table.

Impacts of Food Insecurity
The consequences of food insecurity extend far beyond poor nutrition. It increases the risk of chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, anxiety, and depression. It also makes managing existing health issues more difficult, increasing the strain on healthcare resources. 

“Being able to purchase nutritious food is simply unattainable for many households in our area,” says Sarah Tsang. “We can reverse this unfortunate reality by focusing on long-term solutions, particularly poverty reduction, ensuring adequate affordable housing, and providing incomes that better reflect the true cost of living.”

The HKPR District Health Unit advocates for several measures to address food insecurity including:

• Increases to social assistance to match the real costs of living and indexed to inflation.
• Implementing a basic income guarantee.
• Improving employment standards to reduce unstable work conditions.
• Continuing efforts to expand affordable and adequate housing options.

Explore the rate of food insecurity and compare household income scenarios in the HKPR District area by visiting the Food Insecurity Dashboard, and learn more about the impacts, solutions and local supports available at hkpr.on.ca/FoodInsecurity