Poverty in Woolwich Township?

Woolwich Township has the look of a comfortable and even prosperous community. In large part we are, but behind the apparent prosperity hide problems of poverty which have a great impact of the lives of those affected. With agricultural land disappearing and land prices high, young farm families have little chance of finding a farm which is affordable for them. In order to get started, they may have to leave our township. Affordable housing for people living on low income is also in scarce supply. Woolwich has 4 non-profit affordable housing developments for seniors, but none for families or younger single people. Individuals and families with low income must, for the most part, leave Woolwich in order to find housing. Even so, about 1 in 5 residents of Woolwich are spending more than 30% of their income on housing, which means, that most months, they will run short of the money they need for other essentials. In 1997, Woolwich Community Services coordinated the distribution of over 300 food hampers to people in need. Statistics Canada 1996 tells us that there are 180 low income families in Woolwich - families which do not have enough income to cover the basic costs of food, housing, clothing and transportation.