For many people the result is an increasingly unstable and marginal existence, deteriorating physical and mental health. Typical rents in most parts of Ontario are beyond what social assistance recipients can afford. Most recipients are forced to divert significant amounts of income away from other necessities such as food, clothing, transportation or a telephone in order to pay for shelter. Many scramble to find progressively worse housing, or live at constant risk of losing their housing. Some lose their housing altogether and become homeless, as the growing numbers of families and children in shelters attest.
Many people regularly go hungry.
Food bank use is rising, rapidly, at the same time as employment is growing. Two-thirds of food bank recipients on social assistance report going without food at least one day a month. Most of these people go without food one day a week or more, leading to concerns amongst health professionals about malnutrition. I'm sick and tired of it. I don't want to feed my kids road kill.