The Executive Director of Food Depot Alimentaire says the pandemic has been a bit of a roller coaster ride.
Chantal Senecal says at the beginning they saw an increase in use, but that went down again when government financial assistance kicked in.
She anticipates more increases though over the next two to five years, “What is happening right now is the rent hikes. We are seeing maybe people who have been able to get by in the past, will not be able to. That takes away from money they have to purchase food.”
Senecal says on average they have around $18,000 New Brunswickers currently using food banks once or twice a month.
She is predicting usage increases of between three and five per cent, if there are no further social policies put into place to help people struggling with low income.
“There is a big concern that the big increase costs of housing is going to overload the food bank system because if they can’t afford to pay their rent, they are certainly not going to be able to afford their groceries,” Senecal says.
According to Statistics Canada, rent in New Brunswick jumped 4.8 percent between March 2020 and March 2021, the highest jump in the country.
