31% of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians struggle to meet their basic needs: Vital Signs report

Cathy Newhook is responsible for public policy and communications at the Harris Center. (Mark Cumby/CBC)

Imagine a room with 100 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians crowded inside.

Thirty-one of these people would struggle to meet basic needs such as transportation, shelter, food and clothing.

Twenty-six would have difficulty feeding themselves.

Around twenty of them are said to be in a precarious housing situation.

Those are the sobering numbers contained in the Harris Centre’s annual Vital Signs report, released Thursday morning in St. John’s.

Vital Signs aims to uncover the province’s biggest issues by taking a closer look at a wide range of statistics. This year’s main theme – the cost of living crisis – was no surprise.

“If the key issue for all of these people comes down to the cost of living, then that’s probably where we should focus,” said Cathy Newhook, public policy and communications manager at the Harris Center.

The report covers housing, food, child care, population changes and much more. It also becomes regional, recognizing that the situation in St. John’s is different from rural or Indigenous communities.

Overall, the consumer price index has seen an increase of 22 percent over the past five years. When you break it down into categories, transportation and housing increased by 26 percent, while food increased by 15 percent.

The use of food banks has been one of the most serious consequences of the rising cost of living, increasing by 44 percent in the last four years, while more than a quarter of households report suffering from insecurity eating.

Housing issues at the forefront

The report also paints a problematic picture of housing in the province, with problems ranging from the four coasts of Newfoundland to the northern coast of Labrador.

House prices have increased by 29 percent over the past five years, while vacancy rates have fallen from 7.5 percent in 2020 to 2.9 percent according to the latest figures for 2022. This is part from a myriad of circumstances that caused the rate to skyrocket. of homelessness in the province – a staggering 57 per cent increase between February 2023 and February 2024.

Tom Cooper, a business professor at Memorial University, has written about the challenge of reconciling housing as a human right with housing as an investment opportunity. (Mike Simms/CBC)

Business professor Tom Cooper contributed to the report, arguing that we need to rethink how we view homes – either as a commodity or as a basic human right.

“While homes are viewed primarily as investments, their prices depend not only on the demand for housing, but also on their potential to increase value and generate rental income,” Cooper wrote. “The current housing challenge is finding a balance that allows us to meet our basic need for housing and seek economic security through investment.”

The report also examines how housing concerns vary from place to place.

A 2018 housing needs assessment by the Nunatsiavut government found that 41 per cent of households surveyed had mold. (Ariana Kelland/CBC)

In the St. John’s metro area, for example, 19 percent of people cited affordability as the main factor in housing insecurity, while 4 percent cited the condition of their housing. However, in the Nunatsiavut region, 28 percent of people cited the condition of their housing and 4 percent cited affordability.

Immigration outpaces record deaths and low birth rate

The Harris Center has long been fascinated by the demographic problems of Newfoundland and Labrador. This report was no different.

Between July 2022 and July 2023, the province recorded a record number of deaths, a record number of births and a record number of new immigrants.

The rate of natural change – births minus deaths – amounted to a staggering -2,560 for this period. Despite this, the province’s population was able to grow thanks to the arrival of 3,854 new non-permanent residents.

Only 3 percent of the province’s current population are immigrants, but that number is expected to double by 2041.

When immigration becomes emigration

However, the report also highlighted an obstacle to this prediction. Immigrants to Newfoundland and Labrador report experiencing rates of loneliness much higher than the Canadian average, and much higher than the province’s non-immigrant residents.

Laurabel Mba, an anti-racism consultant, said the major problem was connecting to services as soon as they arrived.

“What we realize however is that as racialized immigrants emerge or as immigrants as a whole emerge… there is a profound gap in the services, products and provisions necessary for them to end up at home,” she said.

Laurabel Mba says making newcomers feel welcome is a key part of preventing them from leaving for new places. (Marc Cumby)

Furthermore, Mba said many new arrivals arrive in the province under a contract with an employer and, when that ends, they move to bigger cities.

“We have this idea of ​​Newfoundland and Labrador as the most welcoming, friendliest region. And we do a great job of doing that on the tourism side,” she said. “But when it comes to people actually finding permanence in our province, it’s hard to find it if you don’t have access to the things that make you feel at home.”

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