Moving forward

Vital Signs and food insecurity

On January 10, the Committee of the Whole heard from Brian Beiles on behalf of The County Foundation in regards to the recent findings from the 2018 Vital Signs report. Vital Signs is an initiative of the Community Foundations of Canada. It is an evidence-based report on a community’s strengths and challenges. It is meant to be an accessible resource, specific to our region, with relevant data from a number of reliable sources. It also identifies current actions and opportunities for further community support and collective action.

The Vital Signs report highlighted some interesting statistics that need mentioning. First is the County’s population, which has declined since the last report at 24,375 residents. The report also highlighted that a significant portion of the County’s population are considered to be ageing. The median age in Ontario is 41.3 years and the County median age is 54.5 years. Although the population is decreasing slightly, the County has grown exponentially in popularity, and handling the influx of new visitors must be balanced with preserving our cultural heritage and sense of place.

“A number of changes have occurred in the County by which some have prospered and some been left behind. Our call is to encourage collaborative action and to build a community of shared prosperity where everyone can feel like they belong,” said Beiles in his deputation.

Brian Beiles holds a copy of the Vital Signs report during a presentation held last October at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Picton.

Some startling numbers coming out of the housing market, where prices have doubled over the last 10 years, more than seven times the increase in the County’s median household income. The County has a very limited rental stock (1,810 units) and the vacancy rate for registered rental units is 0.8 per cent. The average wait time for a one-bedroom social housing apartment is six years. As for what’s being done about it, Vital Signs mentions the new not-for-profit housing committee and the proposed regulations on STAs as possible ways to balance these issues.

As far as business goes, in the last four years the County has seen a 60.6 per cent growth in registered businesses and a whopping 104.5 per cent growth in self-employed businesses. Only 8.6 per cent of the population are entering the trades, which is a very low percentage. Vital Signs mentions the key employment challenges as being a lack of applicable skills, affordable housing and public transportation. As far a salaries go, 50.8 per cent of households in the County earn less than $60,000 after taxes.

Education is an area that shows some troubling statistics. The Early Development index shows 37.3 per cent of PEC children are vulnerable in one or more key elements of childhood development, 26.3 per cent are vulnerable in physical health well-being. Provincial standardized test results for Grades 3,6 and 9 show that the County trails significantly in reading writing and math results. High school graduation rates for HPEDSB are ten per cent lower than the provincial average.

Transportation is a big deal in this area. Over 91 per cent of people in PEC use their own cars to go to work, and less than one per cent use public transport because of the limited scope of what is currently available. Vital Signs makes note that limited public transport significantly impacts accessing fresh food, maintaining employment, completing education, staying socially connected and participating in community activities. Vital Signs also mentions that there is a bright side, with provincial funding recently being approved for a five-year pilot project to launch a regional transportation plan.

Food insecurity is an issue that has been at the forefront lately for County residents. It is estimated that 10 per cent of the County’s population, or close to 2,000 people, may be food insecure. VS suggests the reasons for food insecurity are lower income levels, the high cost of housing, and the lack of public transport to access healthy affordable food. Another interesting statistic is that annual healthcare costs in food insecure households are 121 per cent higher than in households that are food secure.

Glen Wallis from Food To Share presented a deputation at the Committee of the Whole on January 10 on behalf of multiple organizations fighting food insecurity in the County, including the Wellington and Picton Foodbanks, The County Foundation, Hastings and Prince Edward Public Health and the Community Development Council of Quinte. In his deputation, Wallis stated that a municipality’s response to poverty and food insecurity is a large contributor to how people feel about their community. Also, that working to eliminate food insecurity is as much about community building as it is about eliminating hunger.

“We must move away from a charity model and begin to measure our actions and outcomes by allowing people to exercise their right to healthy food. We are proud as a nation that everyone has access to health care, and in the future I’m sure we will feel the same about universal access to healthy food and it will be source of community pride,” said Wallis in his deputation.

Wallis was asking that council include a line item every year in the budget to deal with food insecurity in the amount of $100,000. It was also mentioned by Wallis in the deputation that Food To Share is working collectively with the other two foodbanks towards the goal of moving everyone to a single community food centre location. One that would be able to support the community, but also be interactive by providing food classes and seminars, and hosting community meals. It’s the hope that this initial project would show the potential for distributed community food centres in different parts of the County sometime in the future.

“This is about increasing everyone in our community’s sense of inclusion,” says Wallis

Both Vital Signs and Food To share act as barometers for various issues facing the County. It’s up to council now to absorb what has been presented by the community and work towards an action plan.