A food insecurity report finds the average family of four in Huron and Perth counties spends $267 a week on food.
The report from Huron Perth Public Health looks at food insecurity in the two counties for 2023, and who is most affected.
The $267 weekly grocery shopping bill totals $1,155 a month, or roughly 41 per cent of the average family’s monthly income.
This does not include non-food items such as toiletries, personal care items or cleaning products.
In 2022, it was estimated that 18 per cent of households in southwestern Ontario experienced food insecurity
The report says the solution to food insecurity should be income-based, and makes several recommendations:
- Adequate old-age pensions
- Fully funded Canada Working-Age Supplement (CWAS)
- Fully funded Canada Disability Benefit (CDB)
- Lower income taxes for the lowest income households
- Income protection for precarious employment and low wages
- Implementation of a Basic Income Guarantee
- Increased minimum wage
- Increased social assistance rates
- Investments in subsidized, affordable and stable housing
- Strategies to increase affordable housing, childcare and public transit
- Living Wage employers