Foodbank replacement plan ‘a sticking plaster solution to poverty-driven crisis’
A STORMONT plan to replace foodbanks has been branded a “sticking-plaster” solution.
The blueprint, called Social Supermarkets, is being drawn up by officials from the Department for Communities.
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said the aim was to provide a more permanent solution to food insecurity.
But Paul Doherty, the founder of the ground-breaking Foodstock initiative in west Belfast, said much more was needed.
The Belfast city councillor, who won an Unsung Hero accolade in the Spirit of Northern Ireland Awards, added: “What I would say is that while funding a social supermarket model will allow many living in crisis to avail of support in a way that maintains dignity and also provides other wraparound services, it is only a sticking plaster.
“It is in place of the required action which the minister and Executive should be taking, and that is the delivery of an anti-poverty strategy.
“We need the Executive to act urgently by delivering an anti-poverty strategy based on objective need. This should have been a day-one priority, yet months later we are still waiting.
“For years we have seen communities step up through food bank and social supermarket initiatives, but it’s about time that this Executive stepped up and pulled people out of this crisis they find themselves in.”
According to the most recent figures, foodbank use in Northern Ireland is on the rise.
Mr Doherty said: “Poverty continues to be one of the biggest issues impacting so many people right across the North.
“The Department for Communities reported in October last year that 60,000 children were living in absolute poverty, and one in four children was living in relative poverty.”
Councils have been working on a design model for the foodbank replacements.
Mr Lyons said: “The aim of Social Supermarkets is to offer a longer term, more sustainable, response to food insecurity by providing wraparound services, in addition to access to food, to address the underlying problems contributing to household food insecurity.
“My department’s Make the Call wraparound service aims to ensure that all individuals and their families are receiving the benefits, supports and services they are entitled to claim.
“The service has a team of community outreach officers who conduct home visits with vulnerable people through age, disability, illness, or adverse circumstances, to provide face-toface assistance and support.”
Mr Lyons said his department’s discretionary support service may be able to offer help towards short-term living expenses or household items via either non-repayable grants or an interest-free loan to people experiencing financial difficulties, provided a person meets the eligibility criteria.
He added: “Anyone whose annual income is below the annual income threshold of £26,769.60 is eligible to apply regardless of whether they are in work or in receipt of benefits.”