Poverty on the rise in Sault Ste. Marie, report says

New report says poverty on the rise in Sault A report from the Sault Ste. Marie Poverty Round Table says poverty levels in the city are rising. Watch Christian D'Avino's report.

Sault Ste. Marie — Poverty is on the rise in Sault Ste. Marie, according to the latest report from the city's poverty round table.

The "Progress on Impact" report highlights housing, food security, crisis diversion and workforce entry as four key areas in need of being addressed.

"The report is also a call to action for anyone who is willing to step up and make some changes, based off of the information that's in here," said Lauren Doxtater, the city's Social Equity Coordinator. "This is a big challenge and the poverty round table can't do it all."

Doxtater says she's very concerned with people currently on Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program.

"The amount of people on ODSP looks to be three times higher than those on Ontario Works in our city," said Doxtater. "When we looked at those statistics, only one percent of people on ODSP left because of employment reasons."

When it comes to affordable housing, she says only half of rental properties in Sault Ste. Marie were considered "affordable" in 2018.

Access to food is also disproportionate, particularly in the city's east end.

Doxtater says it has the lowest density of supermarkets, making travel times longer for families living in subsidized housing complexes in the area.

"We've definitely noticed an increase in people relying on our soup kitchen since September of last year," said Nat Cicchelli, General Manager for St. Vincent Place. "The working poor are using our services to be able to pay the bills at the end of each month. That's indicative of the cost of living increasing."

Cicchelli says he'd like to see higher wages and an increase in affordable housing, but mainly believes there is a need for more support systems.

"Being able to access these services is crucial," he adds. "The more they're available, the better."

Last week, the province invested $150,000 into United Way's Harvest Algoma Food Resource Centre, to be used to increase food security in the city.

The Poverty Round Table is made up of representatives of the United Way of Sault Ste. Marie, the Algoma Public Health Unit and the NORDIK Institute.