Board Chair, Patti Dolan and Executive Director Meaghon Reid weighed in on the number of Calgarians living in poverty.

“Our modelling shows that there’s likely an additional 77,000 Calgarians that have fallen into poverty during the pandemic,” Patti Dolan, president of VCC, told the city’s community and protective services committee.

That marks a 40 per cent increase in people under the poverty line in the city.

“Prior to the pandemic, using the market basket measure, there were about 189,000 Calgarians living below the poverty line,” Dolan said Thursday. “That’s about 12 per cent of people in our city who cannot meet basic needs.”

She added that there remains a need to improve policies and practices post-pandemic.

Read the full news article.