Georgina Community Food Pantry looking 'beyond food', connecting housing, hunger to break poverty cycle

#FoodForThought: Food and Housing Insecurity report revealed about a quarter of pantry users fell behind on rent

yorkregion.com
Amanda Persico
March 21, 2022

First comes rent, then come the bills. Third comes food -- if there’s enough money left over at the end of the month.

About 75 per cent of Georgina Community Food Pantry (GCFP) users are renters.

In 2021, the GCFP conducted a deep dive on the relationship between housing and hunger.

The At the Junction of Food and Housing Insecurity report, one of the first in York Region, revealed about a quarter of pantry users fell behind on rent and the same number fell behind on utility bills between March 2020 and April 2021.

About half of those are still in arrears when it comes to rent, and only about five per cent of renters were able to catch up on overdue bills.

There is a “significant amount of people facing arrears” within the pantry’s users, said the pantry’s executive director, Cesar Caneo.

The pandemic showed there was a clear correlation between housing and food insecurity, he added.

“The report allows us to have a better understanding beyond food,” Caneo said.

Another finding in the report is the relationship between pantry visits and housing stability, where those living in less stable housing were less likely to use the food pantry.

There are several reasons for this, including: lack of address required to register as a food pantry user or apply for home-delivery services; inability to cook or store food pantry staples such as pasta, meat or dairy; no access to a kitchen; and lack of public transportation.

The GCFP is trying to break those barriers by partnering with Community Living Georgina and Routes Connecting Communities through the Good Food Collective.

The Good Food Collective offers a by-weekly community lunch and takeout meal program.

The next step is adding housing support to the pantry’s roster of programs from knowing who to contact for support to accessing subsidies and learning how to budget.

The GCFP report called for a more integrated approach to housing and hunger across the region.

“Why are (food pantries) doing only food?” Caneo asked. “Why don’t we have integrated services where food banks have the support in place to address housing needs to help prevent people losing their house? That’s the key.”

And experts expect the situation to get worse with rent and food prices currently skyrocketing.

Some areas of the province are seeing rental increases in the double digits, while food prices are expected to increase on average five to seven per cent.

The lack of rental units on the market is major contributing factor in high rent prices, said Toronto Regional Real Estate Board president Kevin Crigger.

“The lack of housing inventory is not just an issue for the ownership market,” Crigger said.

“This has made it more difficult for would-be renters to find a place to live -- essentially, you can’t rent what isn’t available.”

About one-third of the rental market in the GTA is within York Region, behind Toronto and Peel.

Average rental costs across York Region range from $1,550 for a bachelor apartment; $1,993 for a one-bedroom; $2,462 for a two-bedroom; to $3,029 for a three-bedroom apartment.

Current Realtor.ca rental listings for a two-bedroom apartment in Georgina range between $1,550 to $1,950 a month, while three-bedroom homes are renting for $2,750 to $3,100 a month.

The average one-bedroom condo apartment across the GTA increased by about 14 per cent in 2021 compared to 2020. Meanwhile, the average income across all sectors in Ontario increased by about 1.7 per cent during the same period.

“In a rich country relative to the rest of the world, we face poverty where people can’t make (it to) the end of the month,” Caneo said. “Salaries have been stagnant for years. You see the cost of living and all the economic indicators versus the salary, the salary hasn’t increased at the same rate.”