Plans for a unique partnership between builders and the London Food Bank to improve the lives of tenants in the city’s largest affordable housing project are almost nailed down.
Plans for a unique partnership between builders and the London Food Bank to improve the lives of tenants in the city’s largest affordable housing project are almost nailed down.
The partnership, fueled by a $1-million donation from the food bank, is likely the first of its kind in Canada, Glen Pearson, co-director of the London Food Bank, said.
“It could be a sample for what could happen across the country,” he said. “Londoners get the credit for this. They’re pushing the change.”
A consortium of builders called the Vision SoHo Alliance is developing a plan on how best to use the food bank donation, said Sister Joan Atkinson, president of the London Affordable Housing Foundation, which is an alliance member.
“We can invest that money into programs that can help improve the health of tenants who will be living there,” she said. “It’s hard to give a lot of shape to it yet until we know who the people are and what some of their needs are. But it will be some kind of programs working with tenants.
The initial plans should be ready for the alliance and food bank to review in a couple of weeks, she said.
The food bank is looking for food literacy programs that would help tenants stretch their grocery dollars, Pearson said. That could involve a collective kitchen on site, with staff providing help with purchasing, freezing, canning and cooking food.
“Everybody knows that food banks do remarkable work. But food banks aren’t the answer,” he said. “What we want to do is help the people in the affordable housing units to not have to come to the food bank, to stretch their dollar farther by working in a collaborative setting, which that community allows.”
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Vision SoHo Alliance two weeks ago unveiled plans for a massive new affordable housing project on land that used to house Victoria Hospital in the South of Horton, or SoHo, neighborhood.
Under the direction of the London Community Foundation, six non-profit housing providers have teamed up for the $300-million project, which will build 684 units, with more than 300 affordable or below market rate rentals. Construction is set to begin before the end of the year.
Across the country, food banks are working with greenhouses, social agencies and collective kitchens, Pearson said.
But he’s heard of no project like this, where a food bank and a large affordable housing project build in a food security component from the ground up, he said.
Londoners have always supported the food bank, but during the pandemic they stepped up their donations. Businesses, members of the public and federal funding provided the food bank with a surplus of money, Pearson said.
Some of that money was used to develop neighborhood food depots and build a greenhouse at the central depot on Leathorne Street to provide more fresh food, he said.
But when the food bank board learned about the alliance’s plans to build what is considered London’s largest affordable housing project, it decided to jump in to help tenants with food security, he said.
The food bank’s research already showed 70 per cent of the people in the SoHo area use the food bank, Pearson said.
Now, skyrocketing rents and inflation are forcing record numbers of people all across London to use the service, he added.
“Our biggest problem is that people can’t pay rent. So why don’t we arrange to help people in these affordable housing (locations) with food?” he said.
The London project comes as food insecurity across the country is growing. Food Banks Canada released on Wednesday its Hunger 2022 report, which identified a trend never seen before — low unemployment rates but record number of visits to food banks.
Pearson said he worries Londoners won’t be able to sustain their level of giving to the food bank forever, given the financial stresses many families are facing.
“If the basis for food security is donations from the public or even from the business community, it’s not secure,” he said. “So the only option, I think, for us as a food bank, is to grow our own security.”