Vital Signs report details affordability crisis
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are battling the same storm, but in different boats.
That storm, according to Memorial University of Newfoundland's 2024 Vital Signs report, is the cost of living.
"Everyone is feeling the increase in cost while incomes are remaining the same," said Cathy Newhook, manager of public policy and communications for the Harris Centre at MUN.
Vital Signs reports are designed to conduct a "provincewide checkup of the quality of life in Newfoundland and Labrador communities."
This year marks the report's tenth anniversary. The report covers a different topic every year.
Newhook said when they pressed their fingers on the province's pulse, the cost of living was the only topic that made sense to research.
"It wasn't planned to have the tenth anniversary be the cost of living prices, but it also didn't make any sense to have it be any other topic," she said.
Vital Signs concentrated on food, income and wealth, regional profiles, population change, and housing to depict the province's affordability crisis.
FOOD
There is no question that food prices are increasing. Newhook said everyone feels it.
It was one of the first conversations the Harris Centre had with community partners such as Food First NL and Choices For Youth while developing the report.
"The first conversation we had with community groups around the table was really almost a personal sharing of what we've been experiencing, and we're all employed and have lots of privilege when it comes to these particular issues," said Newhook.
"If we are feeling it that much, imagine how the people (who are) the focus area for a lot of those community groups are feeling. They were in crisis before the rest of us were in crisis, and now we're all in this storm together."
Vital Signs found increases across the board in the food section of the report.
Newfoundland and Labrador has more than 95 charitable food programs, including food banks, meal programs, community freezers, and community centre pantries.
Compared to 2019, food bank visits increased by 44 per cent in 2023, with more than 15,400 visits.
Half of those who availed of food bank services in 2023 were single people; 23 per cent were single-parent families.
Regarding food costs, the average cost of a weekly food basket between 2021 and 2022 increased by 12 per cent.
Newhook said this number has gone up more since then.
She used the example of the cost of a basic pot of beef stew.
"If we wanted to make a pot of stew, a regular pot of beef stew you'd have at nan and pop's house, it's going to serve like 8-10 people, that's increased by 40 per cent in five years. That's a crazy number and it's not a grandiose meal. It's a pot of stew," Newhook said.
If Newfoundland and Labrador was a community of just 100 people, 26 would struggle to afford food, and 31 would have difficulty financially meeting basic needs like transportation, housing, food and clothing.
MAKING A LIVING
Making a living isn't enough as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians navigate cost-ofliving increases.
"Everyone is feeling the increase in cost while incomes are remaining the same," Newhook said.
For example, the median aftertax Income in Newfoundland and Labrador for 2022 was lower than in 2018, decreasing from $65,200 to $63,100 in five years.
Based on historical average family spending, the consumer price index increased by 22 per cent over the past five years as families limit their day-to-day spending to make ends meet.
As a result, instead of spending money on non-essential items like electronics, spending goes toward food, shelter, and transportation.
Meanwhile, marginalized populations are the most likely to have the least financial resources because of discrimination.
REGIONAL PROFILES
Forty out of 100 Newfoundland and Labrador residents live in rural areas; 42 out of 100 residents live on the Northeast Avalon.
To detail monthly housing costs across the province, Vital Signs uses regional profiles to showcase information on population demographics, household income after taxes, housing, and commuting from St. John's metro to Nunatsiavut, Labrador.
The main findings include that most of the province's residents are homeowners between the age of 15-64.
POPULATION CHANGE
Newfoundland and Labrador is known to have an aging population, but Newhook said significant changes have occurred over the last few years.
"We're getting record high numbers of immigration and record low decline in natural population change," Newhook said.
In the last two decades, the number of immigrants arriving in the province has almost tripled, while the province records low numbers of births and record high numbers of deaths.
"If we don't have immigration, we're going to be the fastest-shrinking population," Newhook said.
The influx of newcomers arriving in Newfoundland is positive for the province, the report states.
Vital Signs reported that 50 per cent of Atlantic Canadian companies are experiencing labour shortages.
While efforts toward inclusion and belonging need to be prioritized to retain immigrants, based on data from Statistics Canada, the proportion of immigrants in the province's population will double by 2041 and the proportion of visible minorities will more than double.
HOUSING
Newhook said housing could have made its own Vital Signs report. The report showcased the province's coast-to-coast housing crisis.
Twenty out of 100 Newfoundland and Labrador residents are experiencing housing problems.
In 2021, 33 per cent of households rent their home, and nine per cent of households that own their home spend more than 30 per cent of their income on shelter.
When this figure is broken down, non-permanent residents and visible minorities are affected the most.
Thirty per cent of nonpermanent residents and 20 per cent of visible minorities spend 30 per cent or more of their income on housing costs.
"That includes international students," Newhook said.
Regarding homelessness, Vital Signs found that 68 per cent of the homeless people in St. John's are chronically homeless, and Indigenous people are twice as likely to be homeless in the capital city.
The report further detailed social housing waiting lists, vacancy rates, housing prices, and median monthly housing costs.
SOLUTIONS
Newhook says the wheel doesn't always need to be reinvented because imitation is a form of flattery.
To highlight solutions in the stark picture Vital Signs painted about the province's overall affordability crisis, the report lists solutions community organizations are pursuing.
This, in her perspective, is how people of the province can find hope in the report.
"There's so many groups doing such important work right now and really digging into the issues in a way that does justice to the issues so that we can understand them and be able to move forward with policy solutions that are actually going to work," Newhook said.
"We often hear, 'N.L. is small and it is a disadvantage.' ... This is generally an excuse for doing little and to slow down taking bold actions. However, being a small province is also an advantage. When we collectively decide to take action(s), we will get to see positive results much faster," the report stated.