Section 6.5.1

6.5.1 - Choice Between Food and Necessities

Clients were asked whether their families had to choose between food and necessities during the 12-month period prior to the interview. Table 6.5.1 summarizes the results.

Source
This table was constructed based on usable responses to Question 52 of the client survey.

Notes
All usable responses were weighted as described in Chapter 3 and in the Technical Appendix volume to represent all emergency food clients of the A2H network. The sample sizes (N) also include missing data.

For choosing between paying for food and utilities, missing, don't know, and refusal responses combined are 3.4% for pantry clients, 2.2% for kitchen clients, 1.6% for shelter clients, and 3.2% for all clients.

For choosing between paying for food and paying rent or mortgage, missing, don't know, and refusal responses combined are 3.4% for pantry clients, 2.3% for kitchen clients, 1.7% for shelter clients, and 3.3% for all clients.

For choosing between paying for food and medical care, missing, don't know, and refusal responses combined are 3.6% for pantry clients, 2.9% for kitchen clients, 1.2% for shelter clients, and 3.4% for all clients.

As shown in Table 6.5.1, among pantry client households, 46.1% had to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating bill; 36.1% had to choose between food and rent or mortgage; and 31.1% had to choose between food and medicine or medical care. Results for kitchen and shelter client households are:

• Among kitchen client households, 33.6% had to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating bill; 32.1% between food and rent or mortgage; and 25.0% between food and medicine or medical care.
• Among shelter client households, 38.4% had to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating bill; 38.4% between food and rent or mortgage; and 20.9% between food and medicine or medical care.