‘Pay rent or buy food?’: People living in poverty having to make tough choices

As she walks through a St. Thomas, Ont. grocery store, Elizabeth Windover needs to be disciplined on a tight budget.

As she walks through a St. Thomas, Ont. grocery store, Elizabeth Windover needs to be disciplined on a tight budget.

“I make sure that I don't do the impulse buy stuff,” says Windover, who lives pay cheque to pay cheque on Ontario Works and Child Tax Benefit.

She makes precise lists ahead of time because she rarely has enough money to buy extra food for herself and four children after monthly expenses.

“If it’s not on special, am I buying one box or two? How badly do I need to buy it? Can it wait until I have more money in a couple of weeks?”

Those are the questions she asks herself as she puts food in her cart.

“When we work with people we always talk about budgets,” says Donna Rankin, poverty interventions coordinator with YWCA St. Thomas.

“Historically we talk about 35 per cent (monthly income) goes for housing that includes your rent or your mortgage, and your utilities and then 65 per cent is available for food and other necessities. It is flipped now, with the rise in rents and mortgages. It's impacting people's ability to feed themselves and feed their children,”