April 03, 2023
Build Back Better surveyed the population to explore how the pandemic affected four areas of health equity: housing access, food security, mental health and substance use. The early findings about housing and food security in the province indicate that housing was impacted by the pandemic:
- Eleven percent moved homes during the pandemic. Of those, 23% moved homes because of the pandemic;
- Eight percent delayed or skipped mortgage payment and of these, a majority said this was due to the pandemic; and
- Twenty-one percent had to cut back on other expenses to pay for housing; 16% were not able to pay for utilities.
Those who were classified as having both food and housing insecurity issues ranged from 2% to 16% depending on the area. Food and housing insecurity issues were also reported in areas outside of Saskatoon and Regina and there were pockets within the two cities which also reported a high proportion of food and housing insecurity issues.
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