Low income families in Canada are experiencing basic needs crises during COVID-19 Pandemic. This research project was motivated by community services reported a rapid increase of new clients accessing food distribution and other basic needs support. To fully understand the impacts of COVID-19, it is necessary to explore who exactly is and is not accessing support, what has changed in their situation, and opportunities for the future.

Three research questions guided this study: 1) What in particular is leading so many new people to require basic needs support during COVID-19? 2) Are there barriers to accessing community supports for low income families? and 3) What are the opportunities for long-term community engagement with families who had not engaged with support services prior to the pandemic?

Following an interpretive descriptive research methodology, this project utilized mixed qualitative and quantitative methods to hear the stories of 65 low income families accessing a neighbourhood resource centre in a mid-sized Canadian city. Participants included both those who had accessed support services previously and those who had not. While the project analysis is currently unfolding, survey results indicated that there were no clear trends related to who was pushed into basic needs crises during the pandemic; rather, findings showed that all low income families were at risk regardless of family make-up, income source, or previous use of supports. Participants expressed appreciation of having these services but a strong and overarching concern for the withdrawal of supports prior to a return to normalcy.