• Foodbanks were started to respond to emergencies
  • They now serve as the only solution to not having food
• 2024… a 25% increase across Ontario of people using food banks
  • 1 in 14 Ontario Citizens had to use a Foodbank.
  • 1 in 3 were children • 1 in 6 were employed*
• Foodbanks aren’t the first choice for people in need
  • It takes a lot of high-stress suffering, wrestling with the unrelenting
    precarity of work, housing and sustenance
• The Province of Ontario needs to boost social assistance
  • Poverty costs $3.9 billion in extra health costs annually
  • Poverty costs $1.1 billion in extra justice system costs*
• 21.43% of calls to 211 Ontario were asking about housing assistance
  • Lincoln Seniors in need could wait 8 years for a one bedroom unit
  • Lincoln Singles aged 16 – 54 wait 13 years for a one bedroom unit
  • Lincoln Families wait 4 – 8 years for 2 or 3 bedroom units**

*St. Catharines Standard, Opinion, Our View, Page A4, 9.14.24. **Region of Niagara Housing Website