Finance committee  Yes. That's what we're consistently hearing. It's the cost of food coupled with the cost of housing. Also, then, other items, such as gas and factoring in things like child care, make it really impossible for people to afford to live in a city like Ottawa.

Finance committee  We continue to serve everyone we can who comes to our 112 member agencies. Before the pandemic, we were able to save five dollars to one.... I'm being cut off.

Finance committee  We could take one dollar and turn it into five dollars' worth of food, but we know that there is not the same buying power now that we had experienced for years. The cost of food is making up about 50% of our total increased costs right now.

Finance committee  I think that for many years we saw people who were barely getting by but were able to keep their heads above water. Now they are really struggling. The pandemic has shown that it can take a pandemic, the loss of a job or a broken-down car to send people into having to use a food bank.

Finance committee  We are a living-wage employer. We insist on paying our staff a living wage, and we've seen that increase, of course. On the cost of freight and the cost of having things shipped in, we've seen ongoing supply chain issues that are impacting the cost. We've also had to move into a new facility that is 51,000 square feet compared to 21,000 square feet.

Finance committee  Absolutely, and we knew that for the years to come we would need to continue to grow. Unfortunately, we've continued to grow beyond any measure that we imagined.

Finance committee  We recognize that being poor is incredibly harmful to your health. It is incredibly taxing and stressful to figure out where your next meal is going to come from and to have to navigate the systems in place, at all levels of government, to access the supports that are needed. One of the critical partnerships we have is with community health and resource centres here in Ottawa, which play a role in making those referrals, supports and resources for people dealing with health issues, social assistance and the other social problems that bring people to a food bank.

Finance committee  I would have to submit that. I don't have those numbers with us. We know there are a significant number of people who are well educated and employed. Housing and living in Ottawa are not affordable for many people.

Finance committee  The Ottawa Food Bank, like most food banks in Canada, is funded almost entirely by the community and for the community. We get no federal or provincial funding, and we get less than 2% from the municipal government. I mentioned before that we are a $25-million organization, so that should give you a sense of the amount of support we rely on from the community.

Finance committee  We are starting to see our fundraising take a slight dip, because we know many people are struggling to make their own ends meet. We're seeing donations from the front of the grocery store—from people who are shopping in grocery stores—dip as well, because we know it's that much harder to pick up something extra for people who are at a food bank.

Finance committee  Here in Ottawa, the affordable housing list is about five years' long, with 12,000 people on it. That undoubtedly has to impact people's ability to afford living here.

Finance committee  That's actually not information that we track through our Link2Feed, so I wouldn't be able to comment on that.

Finance committee  We do have numbers on what is driving the numbers on mental health, and I can submit that afterwards as well.

Finance committee  It is. I recognize that it's provincial supports.

Finance committee  To correct that, the number of people on social assistance has remained pretty consistent. It is 60% of the people who access food banks. It really is a larger number of people who are employed or who are becoming unemployed and are on that tipping point of poverty.