The cover of this year's Medicine Hat Vital Signs report is shown. --Handout
gslade@medicinehatnews.com @MHNGillianSlade
A family of four is spending between $850 and $1,100 a month on food, according to Medicine Hat’s 2017 Vital Signs report that was revealed this morning.
There are statistics giving the pulse of the community plus individual stories of people who moved here from afar and what keeps them here in the yearly report by Community Foundation of Southeastern Alberta.
The majority of people using the local foodbank, 918, are from one-person homes. That number drops to 389 for two-person homes and 219 for three-person households. In homes with 10 or more people the number is seven.
Average income for a couple in Medicine Hat trails the provincial average. In 2015 a couple’s average income in Medicine Hat was $98,060 while in Alberta it was $109,270. It is interesting to note that that Hat income had fallen compared to the previous year when it stood at $100,340.
A very personal story is records of a 57 year-old man’s journey from living on the street, a wake-up call when he was determined to stop drinking, and establishing a home for himself thanks to the Housing First program.
“This is the first place (I’ve been) that they ask how they can help you, and drive you around, take you to your appointments even. They’re really helpful because I couldn’t make it,” he is quoted as saying in the story.
Recreational trails in Medicine Hat have increased significantly over the years. In 1992 there were 58 kilometres of trails and that had increased to 115 km by 2017.
Property taxes can be a contentious issue in most cities. Using a three-bedroom bungalow that is 1,300-sq-ft with a full basement as an example, the property tax in Medicine Hat in 2015 was $2,176, in 2016 it was $2,263 and in 2017 $2,345.
