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Shelter Expenditures Increase Vulnerability to Household Food Insecurity
Author(s) -
Fafard AndreeAnne,
Tarasuk Valerie
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.261.6
Subject(s) - food security , odds , food insecurity , vulnerability (computing) , scale (ratio) , logistic regression , economics , business , demographic economics , geography , agriculture , medicine , computer security , cartography , archaeology , computer science
Objective Income is a strong predictor of food insecurity, but the income necessary for food security is a function of household expenditures. The objective of this study is to characterize the relationship between income, shelter expenditures and food insecurity in Canada. Methods Data from Canada's 2010 Survey of Household Spending were converted into budget shares (expenditure‐to‐income ratio) for food, utilities and housing (rent or mortgage). Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between budget shares and food insecurity, defined as any affirmative response to the 10‐item adult food security scale. Among food insecure renters, linear regression was used to test the association between budget shares and severity of food insecurity, defined by a raw score of 1 to 10. All models were adjusted for sociodemographic factors. Results Renters were 3 times more likely to be food insecure than homeowners. Having a mortgage doubled the odds of food insecurity for homeowners. For every 1% increase in the proportion of income allocated to utilities, the odds of food insecurity increased by 5.2% for renters and 6.6% for homeowners. The odds of food insecurity also rose with the budget share for rent among renters and with the budget shares for mortgage and food among homeowners, but these effects were much weaker. Among food insecure renters, a 1% increase in the proportion of income allocated to utilities and rent increased the food insecurity raw score by 3.9 and 1.2 points, respectively; food budget share did not affect severity of food insecurity. Conclusion Small increments in shelter expenditures, particularly utilities expenses, appear to contribute substantially to the risk of household food insecurity and to severity of food insecurity. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (115208).