The Ottawa Food Bank's Ottawa Hunger Report 2019 calls for a municipal poverty reduction strategy in Ottawa, and suggests there are steps the city can take.

Fresh statistics from the Ottawa Food Bank show that while things are getting better for families with children, poverty is getting worse for singles and childless couples, and it is calling on City Hall to provide more help to those who need it most.

The food bank credits the federal government's Canada Child Benefit with reducing the number of families with children who live in poverty, but adds that nearly half of its clients are single adults.

"The poverty rate there [among childless adults] is actually increasing by about the same factor as families with children has decreased," said Michael Maidment, executive director, Ottawa Food Bank.

Maidment explained that the rising cost of food and rent has hit especially hard for the approximately 60 per cent of food bank clients who receive Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Program payments.

"Those social assistance rates just haven't kept pace with the cost of living," Maidment told 1310 NEWS.

The Ottawa Food Bank's Ottawa Hunger Report 2019 calls for a municipal poverty reduction strategy in Ottawa. Despite social services primarily being the domain of the provinces, Maidment said there are steps that the city can take to reduce poverty for those most in need.

"Let's focus a small amount of money to identify those people who are receiving Ontario Works and have a disability," said Maidment. "Let's get them moved over to ODSP so they receive more income."

Setting up tax clinics to show low-income residents how to apply for all of the tax credits for which they're eligible, providing more affordable housing and making more affordable recreation available are examples of actions the city could take to reduce poverty, said Maidment.