Study shows Hamilton food bank users are 'poorest of the poor'
CBC
Food bank users in Hamilton, according to a study by researchers at McMaster University, are struggling significantly more than most low-income residents.
The researchers said about one-third of all low-income households in Hamilton use a food bank at least once a year and those households are commonly ones with children.
Martin Dooley, professor emeritus in the Department of Economics at McMaster, who co-authored the research, said food bank users are among the lowest income households in the city.
"We see that food banks clearly serve households in the low-income population that have more members to feed and less income with which to feed them," Dooley said.
"We're talking about the poorest of the poor."
The data used for the study was provided by Hamilton Food Share — service coordinator for the city's emergency food system. It was collected between 2015 and 2018 and was analyzed in McMaster University's Secure Empirical Analysis Lab (SEAL).
The data captured the introduction of the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) in 2016, which provided the basis for another report, written by McMaster graduate Melanie Yin, that found the program didn't have a significant impact on food bank use.