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Food costs causing residents to ask landlords for financial support in Wales, says CHC
Food costs are one of the main reasons residents are asking housing associations in Wales for financial support, a sector group has warned.
Community Housing Cymru (CHC), which represents housing associations in Wales, said the soaring cost of food was behind the demand, and called on the UK government to make sure welfare support is sufficient to pay for basic necessities.
The group said people being unable to afford basic essentials was “just unacceptable”.
CHC referred to figures from the Trussell Trust charity published last week, which showed 88,518 emergency food parcels were handed out by its food banks in Wales between April and September this year. This represented a 15% year-on-year rise.
The charity also provided a record 32,149 food parcels to children in the period.
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Despite food inflation coming down, food is still getting more expensive, just at a slower rate.
The Trussell Trust predicts that the situation will get worse, with more than one million emergency food parcels expected to be delivered between this December and February 2024.
Hayley MacNamara, policy and external affairs manager at CHC, said food must be affordable.
“Ninety thousand emergency food parcels to be provided because people cannot afford basic essentials is just unacceptable,” she said.
“Soaring costs now mean that food is one of the main reasons tenants are approaching housing associations for urgent financial support.
“Housing associations and their partners are working hard to support people struggling to afford to eat this winter, offering access to food initiatives, vouchers and providing food parcels, while also helping them to maximise their income.
“Food must be affordable, and that’s why we are calling on the UK government to ensure that welfare support is sufficient to pay for basic essentials, to enable people to feed themselves and their families without needing emergency support.”
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “There are 1.7 million fewer people in absolute poverty than in 2010, but we know some families are struggling, which is why we are providing a record support package worth £3,300 per household.
“This includes the latest cost of living payments paid directly to over eight million households this month and our decision to raise benefits by over 10% earlier this year.
“We also know that households are at least £6,000 a year better off in full-time work than out of work on benefits, and to help people out of poverty through work we are also increasing the National Living Wage again and investing £3.5bn to help thousands into jobs, grow the economy and bear down on inflation.”
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