Record food bank numbers nationally felt 'on the ground' in Toronto, expert says

Record numbers of people used food banks across Canada in the past year, according to a new report, and local experts say one in 10 Toronto residents now relies on food banks to get through the month.

"It's a bad situation nationally and it's even more dire locally," Neil Hetherington, CEO of Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank, said in an interview on Monday.

"What we see in this national report is what we're feeling on the ground, day in and day out. And if anything, it underreports what we are seeing here in Toronto."

The report, HungerCount 2024, by Food Banks Canada, says there were more than two million visits to Canadian food banks in March 2024 alone. The number is a six per cent jump from March 2023 and a 90 per cent increase from 2019. Food Banks Canada is a national charitable organization.

The report also says nearly 30 per cent of Canadian food banks report running out of food. The report says "there are signs that the food-banking system is reaching its absolute limit."

Hetherington said the Daily Bread Food Bank will release a report in November, Who's Hungry, that says food bank usage in Toronto has gone up 38 per cent year over year, comparing March 2022 to 2023 to March 2023 to 2024.

"Basically, it's our higher cost of living, it's our lack of affordable housing," he said.

Currently, there are about 350,000 client visits to Daily Bread Food Bank a month, with a client visit meaning one visit to a food bank. Of 12,000 new people who are now coming to the food bank monthly, more than 50 per cent are employed full-time, while more than 60 per cent have a post-secondary education and are working, he said.

"The promise of —  you go to school, you get a job, you work hard, you'll be fine — is broken. Again, we know the solutions to this and we're just not implementing them," he said. "We can't rely on charity to get folks fed."

To maintain service levels, the Daily Bread Food Bank has gone from spending $1.5 million a year in 2020 to $29 million a year in 2024. That money ensures clients are able to obtain three days worth of food from a food bank visit.

Hetherington added that the findings by HungerCount 2024, which outlines the numbers of children, working people, renters and newcomers who use food banks, hold true for Toronto as well.

Hunger Count 2024 found that:

• One third of food bank clients are children, a number that represents nearly 700,000 monthly visits in 2024.

• Nearly one in five food bank clients, or 18 per cent, are employed, compared to roughly one in 10, or 12 per cent, in 2019.

• Nearly 70 per cent of food bank clients live in market rent housing.

• "Grossly inadequate" provincial social assistance is the most common source of income for food bank clients.

• 32 per cent of food bank clients are newcomers to Canada, which means they have been in the country for 10 years or less.

Food insecurity levels higher than imagined, official says

Ryan Noble, executive director of the North York Harvest Food Bank, said on Monday that the food bank is seeing record numbers of clients and it has shattered its record of total monthly client visits three times in the past year.

"We've had a chronic crisis in poverty and food insecurity for decades now. And what we've seen over the last couple of years is really that it is going to levels we couldn't even have imagined just a short time ago," Noble said.

The report calls for several policy changes, including the introduction of a Groceries and Essentials Benefit that would help struggling Canadians.

Kirstin Beardsley, CEO of Food Banks Canada, said in an interview on Monday that government action is needed because the food bank system is strained.

"We're advocating for a Groceries and Essentials Benefit to help people make ends meet today and have the money they need for things like housing for food," Beardsley said.

"We're also looking at support for low-income workers. You shouldn't be having to stop at the food bank on the way home from your job instead of the grocery store. We need investments in affordable housing. And we need, as Canadians, to focus on the extreme levels of food insecurity in the far North."

"This isn't something that we can be complacent about. We are not built as a system to see an ever increasing level of demand."

Beardsley said food insecurity and poverty reduction should be major issues in any election and is asking for the public's help to ensure addressing systemic problems is a priority for government officials.

The report, a research study using information from Canada's 5,500 food banks and community organizations, examined the impact of rapid inflation and inadequate social supports on poverty, food insecurity and hunger in Canada.