Food bank use in Toronto breaks records — again
The number of visits to food banks in Toronto hit a new record once again, marking a continuation of a drastic rise in food bank use since the pandemic as Torontonians struggle keeping up with the rising cost of living.
Food banks are seeing a million more visits this year than the last, bringing the total number to 3.49 million from April 2023 to April 2024, according to the annual Who's Hungry report from Daily Bread and North York Harvest food banks.
That's a 38 per cent increase from last year and nearly four times the number of visits than before the pandemic, the report says as it outlines a sobering surge.
While it took 38 years for food banks to reach one million visits, the report notes, it only took two years to surpass two million visits last year, and only one year to reach three million.
Food bank use started
regularly breaking records in 2021, when food banks saw 1.45 million client visits — the highest number since 2010 when the city was reeling from the 2008 financial crisis. That record was
broken again in 2022 (1.68 million visits) and
yet again in 2023, when there were more than 2.5 million visits.
The rise is so staggering that the head of Toronto's largest food bank projects their reserves will be so depleted in the next 18 months, they will have to reduce the amount of food they give out.
"You gotta ask the questions around, you know, is this sustainable? Can we continue to do this?" said Neil Hetherington, CEO of Daily Bread Food Bank.
Cost of living, unemployment main reasons for client use
More than 154,700 new people used food banks in Toronto this year. Among users, the cost of living was the main reason for using a food bank, with recent job loss or unemployment being the second most common reason among new clients.
That includes Safiya Airall, who started using a food bank after losing her job during the layoffs at Corus Entertainment this year.
"I've never found myself in a position where I would be in need of something like that," she told CBC News.
The number of new food bank clients this year is a 222 per cent rise from two years ago. Airall said it's "wild" knowing just how many people beside her found themselves needing to step into a food bank.
"Sometimes it's like you feel like you're suffering in silence and you're the only one," she said.
The money she spent paying her mortgage and other bills in the past year doesn't leave much for food, she says.
According to the report, 73 per cent of food bank clients spend more than half of their income on housing, with 20 per cent spending all of their income to have a roof over their head.
Safiya says that given rising costs, she probably wouldn't have needed a food bank if she was in her current situation just a few years ago.
"When I was growing up, we would go to the grocery store and for $200 you're getting your trunk full of groceries. Now I can throw those things in the back seat," she said.
The report said the amount an average person should be spending on healthy food sat at $253 per month in 2019, but now rose to $339. That's while rent across Ontario rose by 54.5 per cent in the past decade, according to the report.
Even though employment rates and wages rose among food bank clients, it says the rising cost of living is "making it impossible to keep up." The report notes that more than half of new clients (51 per cent) have at least one household member who is employed.
"They've done everything right," said Hetherington. "They got an education, they got a job, they're working hard and they still have to rely on food charity. And that, to me, is infuriating."
Alarming' rise of unhoused food bank clients
While the majority of food bank clients (80 per cent) are renters, the report notes an "alarming" 420 per cent rise in the number of unhoused clients.
There was also a 90 per cent increase in clients from emergency shelters and 89 per cent increase in "other" types of housing, which could include those living in their cars, couch surfing, or experiencing other forms of hidden homelessness.
That doesn't come as a surprise for Jacklin Brazzo, who currently lives in a motel with her husband and 22-month old baby.
She said an immigration lawyer defrauded her family of their savings when they immigrated to Canada from Italy in 2021, followed by her losing her job once her employer found out she was pregnant.
"We had all the hope possible in this world for having a better life," she said.