Task Force Blog

Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force Poverty Task Force

Poverty Task Force/United Way Community Update #213

Dear Colleagues,

We are starting 2025 with an impactful series of meetings on Community Hubs in Grey Bruce. 

Colleen Seaman Trask’s presentation this Friday on OSHaRE will provide valuable insights into how community hubs can evolve and expand their services to meet a variety of needs. Grey Bruce Food Share, Supportive Outreach Services, Family Assist Market and other health clinics at OSHaRE are great examples of how a community hub can become a multi-faceted resource.

Our discussion will be on:

  1. The Evolution of Community Meal Programs: Highlighting how OSHaRE’s meal program started and transformed into a more comprehensive service that addresses food insecurity, health care access, and community connections.
  2. Partnerships and Collaboration: The role of partnerships with local organizations, food rescue, and volunteers in making these services sustainable and impactful. And how the OSHaRE model can be adapted or implemented in other areas of Grey Bruce.
  3. Sustainability Challenges: How OSHaRE has navigated the challenges of funding and resources. And what long-term sustainability challenges exist in meeting the diverse needs of the community.

Please join us for some insightful conversation! 

FOOD SECURITY

2024 was a rough year for many households.  We have seen a significant increase in the number of people accessing shelters, food banks, community meals and seeking financial assistance. Bruce Power distributed $300,000 to food banks this past year to support the need. It is important to upload your data to Food Bruce Grey to ensure that you are on the Bruce Power distribution list. 

  • OSHaRE: distributed 25,000 meals in the month of November and 23,000 in December 2024.  These monthly numbers still remain higher per month than pre-pandemic annual numbers.  A total of 197,128 meals in 2024. 
  • Meaford Food Bank: added 96 new households in 2024. 211 households were served food hampers in December 2024 and 256 children benefited from their Christmas Star shopping program. 
  • St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church: on average provide food hampers to 55 people weekly.  They saw a slight decline in December to 27 people/week. 
  • Grey Bruce Good Food Box: volunteers packed 17,878 boxes and 2,700 tokens were distributed across the region (note: not all December data is included) at 23 locations. 

Go to Food Bruce Grey to look at more data on Food Banks, Community Meal Programs and Food Rescue in 2024. https://www.foodbrucegrey.com/all-dashboards

HOUSING SECURITY 

AMO Municipalities Under Pressure Report: Ontario has seen a staggering increase in homelessness in recent years. For the first time, this report collected and analyzed data from all 47 consolidated municipal services managers in the province to fully illustrate the scope of the crisis. Report data demonstrates a systemic failure that extends beyond housing, reflecting deep gaps in healthcare, mental-health services, justice systems and more. Reports on Ontario’s Homelessness Crisis, Water and Wastewater Utility Feasibility | AMO

  • In 2024, 81,515 people experienced homelessness and 41,512 people experienced chronic homelessness in Ontario.
  • 17,000 permanent shelter beds exist in Ontario. 
  •  Without significant intervention, homelessness could more than triple by 2035, leaving up to 294,266 people without stable housing. 

In Grey County: 

  • Grey County is experiencing similar trends to other rural communities across the province. Locally, a point in time count in 2024 revealed 375 individuals experiencing homelessness in Grey County.  Of these individuals, 65 identify as Indigenous, 80 are children 15 and under, and 45 are youth ages 16-24. Adults account for 252 of the individuals and seniors (65+) 8. 253 of individuals are experiencing chronic homelessness.
  • Grey County also provides subsidized housing and maintains a housing waitlist. The waitlist has grown from 1,517 in 2022 to 2,230 in 2024.
  • In 2024, funding for housing and homelessness in Ontario was estimated at $4.1 billion. Of the three levels of government, 51.5% of was funded by municipalities. Grey County has invested $6.55 million since 2022 in homelessness support with projects including the purchase and renovation of a property in Owen Sound for supportive housing and the purchase of a former motel for short-term emergency shelter.
  • In 2023 Grey County partnered with CMHA to offer transitional, supportive housing to residents of Grey County who have experienced chronic homelessness.  The first participants of the program moved in December 2023 and since that time seven have graduated to permanent, stable housing with ongoing connection to CMHA supports.  This program offers opportunities to build skills and work on personal goals with the objective of being successful in maintaining permanent housing and ending the cycle of homelessness. 
  • Grey County took a major step in providing expanded short-term housing options with our acquisition of a 22-room motel in Owen Sound in February of 2024. This acquisition has allowed for reduced operating costs, improved access to staff and supports on site and a higher level of dignity for community members experiencing homelessness. This expansion of program services will allow for an increase of 5,600 nights of accommodations bringing the total capacity to 13,000 nights of short-term accommodations with the same level of operating funding. 
  • In addition to the 2 facilities, Grey County provides funding to Safe N Sound Grey Bruce to operate an overnight warming space for up to 18 individuals nightly. This provides a supportive environment with staff on site providing referrals to services, someone to talk to and refreshments. These spaces throughout the course of the winter support more than 3,000 nights of warmth to members of our community. 
  • Over the course of 2024, Grey County staff and community partners supported 176 households in exiting homelessness into stable accommodations, of those households 123 maintain those accommodations at the present time. 

The report notes the disparities of those facing homelessness in rural communities compared to cities including shelter capacity and affordable housing shortages, specialized supports, urban inflow pressures and transportation barriers. Without significant investment and coordination across all three levels of government, it will not be possible to scale up the infrastructure needed to create a system where homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring.   https://www.grey.ca/news/providing-grey-county-perspective-amo-municipalities-under-pressure-report

  • Safe N Sound Presentation to Council – County Council – November 28, 2024
  • The National Indigenous Women’s Housing Network and Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network: launched “Mobilizing on the Right to Housing for Women and Gender-Diverse People in Canada: A Community Organizer’s Guide!”  The Guide mobilizes communities to contribute to Canada’s first-ever human rights-based review panel on homelessness for women and gender-diverse people. Download the resource   About Us — Gender Housing Justice

HEALTH EQUITY 

INCOME SECURITY

  • Tax Breaks: starting December 14th, 2024, the government has paused the GST & HST on groceries, kids’ clothes/toys, and other essentials. Those eligible for the rebate must be 18 years or older at the end of 2023; be a resident in Ontario on December 31, 2023; have filed their 2023 Income Tax and Benefit Return by December 31, 2024; and not be bankrupt or incarcerated in 2024. 
  • Disability Without Poverty Report: 1 in 3 people with disabilities living alone in Canada face poverty. Read the full Campaign 2000 report.   https://www.disabilitywithoutpoverty.ca/2024-disability-poverty-report-card/
  • Basic Income Guaranteed Forum Report:  was released after a national conference. The approach favoured in Canada is that of a basic income guarantee that takes other income into account and provides most help to those who need it most. Basic income is a strategic investment to improve wellbeing. It can tackle the polycrisis we are facing far more effectively than our current patchwork of programs.  BIG Success in the Making Doc – Eng + Fr
  • National Automatic Tax Filing Pilot Program:  83% of more than 2 million eligible Canadians filed their 2023 tax returns by phone, online or by mail using the agency Simple File services. Ottawa moving ahead on automatic tax filing. Here’s what to know – National | Globalnews.ca
  • Canada Pension Report: this Toronto case study shows too many people are not accessing OAS benefits they are eligible for and many of those people have English or French as a second language. https://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/publications/unclaimed-benefits/

TRANSPORTATION

TAMARACK PUBLIC WEBINARS

PUBLIC WEBINAR | From Policy to Practice: Advancing the National Poverty Reduction Strategy | January 22 | 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET | This webinar will explore what the Council heard from people across Canada in 2024, the federal government’s role in reducing poverty, as well as highlighting how communities – local organizations, collaboratives, associations and individual community members – can action this report.  WEBINAR | From Policy to Practice: Advancing the National Poverty Reduction Strategy

Cheers, Jill 

Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force Poverty Task Force

Bruce Grey’s Living Wage increases by 1.3% for 2024 to $23.05 per hour

18 November 2024

Bruce Grey’s Living Wage increases by 1.3% for 2024 to $23.05 per hour

Living Wage: The living wage is what a worker needs to earn, per hour, at 40 hours per week, in order to make ends meet where they live.

How is the Living Wage calculated?

The calculation looks at major expenses that workers face such as shelter costs, transportation, childcare, and food. Also taken into account are other expenses such as internet access, a modest annual vacation, and clothing. Any applicable government taxes, transfers, and benefits are factored in as well, and which results in an hourly wage that a worker must earn in order to make ends meet where they live.

For Bruce Grey, 3 demographic profiles were used to generate the standardized Living Wage for Bruce Grey:

  • Single person: $23.93 ($23.01 – 2023)
  • Single parent with 2 children: $26.82 ($27.20 – 2023)
  • 2 parents, 2 children: $21.93 for both parents ($22.00 – 2023)

“Our continued advocacy for a local living wage reflects our commitment to ensuring all residents have the means to meet their basic needs,” explains Executive Director Francesca Dobbyn. “As the cost of living continues to rise, this adjustment is essential to support our community members, especially those in low-wage positions, in achieving a more secure and dignified standard of living. By investing in fair wages, we are building a stronger, more resilient community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.”

The budget does not include funds for:

  • Savings
  • Education savings for the children
  • Home-ownership costs
  • Costs to caretake a family member
  • Pets
  • Social engagements
  • Debt repayments

“A job should lift the employee out of poverty,” Dobbyn explains further. “With the significant increases to the cost of housing we see locally, people are working, but homeless, living in cars while sliding further and further into poverty.” While no one should live below the poverty line, there is an understanding and an expectation that being employed should lift that person, and their family, out of poverty.

While the Living Wage increase is below inflation for 2024, the data reflected that households were spending less on clothing and shoes, an indicator that the general households’ access to disposable income in their budgets, has decreased.

“Income solutions are needed for people to afford food, housing and daycare. Daycare is critical for parents, in particular, women, to work. While the government has announced $10/day childcare and a new school lunch program to assist families and kids, these programs are still not fully funded in our region.  Waitlists exist for childcare spaces and subsidized rates. Locally, subsidized spaces are $22/day but due to a lack of staffing we don’t have enough spaces available throughout Grey Bruce.” Says Jill Umbach Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force co-ordinator, “In a field dominated by women, Early Childhood Educators in the daycare sector are still struggling to be paid well.”

The United Way of Bruce Grey and The Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force advocate for a move from relying on a food charity model to public policies that increase the incomes of vulnerable households in our community.

Breakdown of Living Wage for Grey Bruce in 2024

Benefits to businesses who pay a Living Wage:

  • Reduced recruitment costs
  • Reduced training costs
  • Better morale
  • Employees do not have to hold down multiple jobs just to make ends meet
  • Less fatigue
  • Increased productivity
  • There are over 500 certified living wage employers in Ontario

To learn more about the calculation for the local Living Wage, join Anne Coleman Campaign Manager for the Ontario Living Wage Network, Friday November 22nd at 10 am for the November Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force meeting. To access the Zoom link for the meeting please email povertytaskforce@unitedwaybg.com

For more information on the Living Wage report please contact Francesca Dobbyn at 519-376-1560 or execdir@unitedwaybg.com

For more information on Living Wage Ontario, please contact Anne Coleman, Campaign Manager Manager@ontariolivingwage.ca Ontario Living Wage Network

Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force Community Updates, Poverty Task Force

Poverty Task Force/United Way Community Update 212

Reconciliation begins with a commitment to truth-telling. However, the burden of truth telling should not be placed solely on the shoulders of survivors. Reconciliation requires institutions, governments and individuals to live up to their own responsibilities and complete/fulfill the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action.

The most recent Annual Report from the National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation reports that the voices of Residential School deniers are getting louder. The truth is that 699 Indian Day Schools were established and operated by the Canadian Government since the 1920’s, with an estimation of over 200,000 Indigenous children attending.

Seven of these schools were located in Bruce County – 4 in Nawash – Sydney Bay, Little Port Elgin, St. Mary’s Junior and St. Mary’s Senior School; and 3 in Saugeen – French Bay, Saugeen Village and Scotch Settlement.

We need to find more opportunities for truth telling.  Please read the full report here: 2024-NCTR-2023REPORT-LAYOUTS-FIN-WEB.pdf

FOOD INSECURITY

  • United Way, OSHaRE and Owen Sound The Salvation Army: have rung alarm bells saying that there will come a day when they won’t be able to keep up with the unsustainable rate of demand for free food. They are calling for income solutions such as the Guaranteed Basic Income.  Food banks and soup kitchens in Owen Sound struggle to meet growing demand | CTV NewsDemand for food charity skyrocketing
    • OSHaRE served 20,000 meals in September 2024; they provided 20,000 in all of 2020. 
    • OSHaRE served over 146,000 meals so far this year, the same as in all of last year. 
    • The Salvation Army Owen Sound is providing groceries to 1,300 clients/month, up 20% from last year alone.
    • The Salvation Army Owen Sound is providing over 30,000 lbs (13,610 kgs) of food to families each month. They have provided over $1.5 million of practical food assistance in one year to a community of 21,000 people. 
    • 125-130 families are attending the bi-weekly Family Assist Market.  
  • Food Affordability and Food Insecurity Report: was released by Grey Bruce Public Health and they are calling for income solutions to food insecurity.Food Affordability and Food Insecurity
    • Almost 1 in 5 Grey Bruce households struggle to purchase the food they need and are food insecure (18.3% averaged over 3 years). 
    • The report determined the cost of groceries for a family of four in Grey-Bruce in 2024 was $289 per week or $1,250 per month, representing a 1% increase from 2023. A single adult, meanwhile, must spend about $434 a month on food to meet Canada’s Food Guide recommendations, which is also a 1% increase from 2023. 
    • A full-time worker (40-hour week) earning minimum wage, which in Ontario is now $17.20 per hour, earns a gross monthly income of $2,752. 
    • Female-led single parent and lower income households are vulnerable to food insecurity. In 2022, 41.2% of households with children led by female lone parents were food-insecure.
    • In Meaford, a response to the report had Meaford Councillor Harley Greenfield state that municipalities are increasingly being drawn into these sorts of social issues, largely due to pressure from the public, but municipalities aren’t equipped to address social issues, as they have always been outside of the scope of a municipal council. The largest, and likely most important role that municipalities can take on in order to help to find solutions to the housing crisis, or the food insecurity crisis, or the opioid crisis, is that of an advocate by pressuring upper levels of government, who are supposed to oversee such issues, and who are equipped and funded for such problems. GBPH’s Report on Food Affordability Highlights What Many Already Know | The Meaford Independent
  • Parent Infant Feeding Support: a free virtual infant feeding support group starts up in Hanover (October 16th to December 4th) to support ALL families with food support.  They also offer free individual infant feeding support at the Family Health Team. 

HOUSING SECURITY

INCOME SECURITY

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Stay well, Jill

Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force Poverty Task Force

Food Security Action Group Meeting Highlights

The Food Security Action Group of the Poverty Task Force meets on the 1st Friday of the month. Here are highlights from the most recent meeting. Please contact Robin Cork, food@unitedwaybg.com to join the group.

The National School Food Program is rolling out across the country as agreements are made between federal and provincial governments. Details for Ontario are not yet available as the agreement has not been signed. We will be sure to make an announcement when details are available.

Hayley Hundt from our local Grey Bruce Ontario Student Nutrition Program (ONSP) let us know that there are 61 schools in our region that would benefit from the program. She can be contacted directly to answer any questions you may have at hayley.hundt@von.ca. We are hopeful that the program will be in addition to the provincial supports in place and we will not see a reduction in supports in Ontario. Ontario Student Nutrition Program Impact Report 2023-2024 (attached).

Ontario Coalition for Healthy School Food: Over the past few weeks we’ve had meetings with policy staff in the Ministry Finance, the Premier’s office, and the Ministry of Children, Community, and Social Services MCCSS to present our Ontario school food proposal (attached) which recommends that the Ontario government accept federal funding and increase its provincial investment to stabilize and grow school food programs in Ontario. Here’s what we’ve learned:

  • The Ministry of Children, Community, and Social Services (MCCSS) is actively working on a deal with the federal government to receive national school food funds, and we should be hearing more about it in the coming weeks.
  • MCCSS is leading the negotiations with the federal government.
  • MCCSS confirmed that federal funding will support existing student nutrition programs (SNP) and funds will flow as they do now to Lead Agencies through MCCSS.
  • They’re still looking at making policy changes recommended through the SNP review, but for now they are concentrating on getting funds out the door.

We’ve also reached out to some of our Chapter members and supporters to ask for help setting up meetings with some Ontario MPPs to educate them about school food and the opportunity to leverage federal funding to further enhance the provincial program. Thanks to everyone who has helped so far – we have ~20 meeting requests to MPPs sent out already, and further outreach is in the works.

Newfoundland and Labrador are the first to reach an agreement with the federal government through the new National School Food Program. This initial investment of approximately $9.1 million over three years will help more kids get access to school food.  In the coming weeks, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia are expected to follow suit. 

Many of our local Food Banks are providing school snacks for clients.

OSHaRE Lunch Program: in 2023, we shared 9,667 school lunches with children in local schools. To date in 2024, they have shared over 14,000 school lunches.  School lunches are picked up by local schools or provided to families referred to OSHaRE through local agencies.

Feed Ontario – Ontarians are Drowning Amid Surging Affordability Crisis: released a new report.

  • 1,001,150 unique individuals visited a food bank between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024, an increase of 25% over 2022-2023.
  • Food banks were visited 7,689,580 times between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024, and increase of 31% over 2022-2023, and 134% over 2019-2020.
  • 2023-2024 is the eighth consecutive year food bank use has risen in the province.

United Way of Bruce Grey Backpack Programs: As of Friday, August 30th, 2,664 students have received fully stocked backpacks, thanks to the incredible support from the Grey Bruce community. That’s 195 more than last year.

United Way of Bruce Grey Community Fund Grants 2025: call for applicantions from registered non-profits/charities in 3 categories –

§  From poverty to possibility –We are looking for initiatives that meet people’s basic needs for food, shelter and safety; as well as those that ensure individuals have opportunities to seek stable and sufficient employment, and make education, training and learning opportunities affordable and accessible for all.

§  Healthy people, strong communities –We are looking for initiatives that reduce barriers and isolation for those with addictions and mental-health issues through counselling, referrals, rehabilitation and other services. As well, services that support seniors and individuals with physical, intellectual and emotional disabilities.

§  All that kids can be – We are looking for organizations that are supporting the healthy growth and development of young people. This means actively targeting the source of their challenges and working to address systemic issues.

To apply and gather more details please visit: https://unitedwayofbrucegrey.com/about-us/community-impact-grants/ Please follow the links on the website to do the applications. Do NOT use the PDFs to fill out the applications. Deadline is Friday, December 13th, 2024.

Grey Bruce Good Food Box: the full season is up and running with all locations.

Stay well, Robin

Robin Cork, Food Security Coordinator, United Way of Bruce Grey