The Potential for a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income to Reduce Food Insecurity and Improve Health (Senate submission)
July 24, 2023
This submission to the Senate Standing Committee of National Finance Study on Bill S-233, An Act to develop a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income highlights the potential for a guaranteed livable basic income to reduce household food insecurity and improve health.
The only interventions proven to reduce food insecurity are those that improve the incomes of vulnerable households, but our existing income supports for working-aged adults are piecemeal and insufficient.
A guaranteed livable basic income has the potential to address income-related problems of food insecurity, which would improve people’s health, offset considerable public health care expenditures, and reduce the burden household food insecurity now places on health care resources.
We recommend that the Senate make the reduction of food insecurity an objective within the framework for a guaranteed livable basic income proposed by this bill. In order for policy to have meaningful impact on food insecurity, it needs to be designed with this outcome in mind and target adequate and stable income support to low-income households.
The submission answers 4 key questions:
- What is household food insecurity in Canada?
- What does household food insecurity tell us?
- What is the state of household food insecurity in Canada?
- How would a guaranteed livable basic income improve health and reduce healthcare
costs?
