Winnipeg Free Press Triple whammy Rising cost of housing, food inflation and high unemployment combine to take bigger bite out of your grocery budget RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Harvest Manitoba CEO Keren Taylor-Hughes says the rising cost of housing is another barrier to people accessing food. ‘With the cost of everything except wages increasing, we find that there is too much month left at the end of the month.’ The effects of the rapidly increasing cost of housing, both rentals and home ownership, combined with food inflation and an ongoing weak job market, are adding to concerns about food affordability across the country.