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.
While she’s seeking accountability for her wrongful termination and money that was stolen, what she earns through her remote job as a translator is still not enough to cover basic expenses.
“We see that the prices continually increase,” she told CBC. “A food bank is just the tip of the iceberg… The medicine for a problem you cannot resolve.”
First time report tracks student status data
This was the first year the report collected data about the student status of food bank clients, revealing that students represent one in three clients and 42 per cent of new ones.
More than half (56 per cent) of students going to food banks are international students, the report found, and nearly all of them (93 per cent) are new clients.
With more international students relying on temporary or casual employment than domestic ones, the report found they have a median income of $3.30 left for food each day after paying rent and utilities, unlike the overall median of $7.78.
The impact of international students struggling to keep up with the rising costs of living in Canada has been widely reported, with the government increasing the cost-of-living financial requirement for study permit applicants, who now need to show they have access to $20,635, up from $10,000.
What’s missing, the report notes, is a strategy to fund post-secondary institutions and make sure international students have job prospects, housing options, and other resources.
Report calls on all levels of government to act
The way the government needs to handle the rise in international students is just one of many calls the report makes for all three levels of government.
“Over one in 10 Torontonians continue to rely on food banks because of systemic policy failures,” the report says.
Those calls include increasing Canada’s disability benefits and ODSP, investing more in children’s nutrition programs, and creating more affordable housing — something almost half (48 per cent) of the report’s respondents said is the main thing governments can do to address food insecurity.
“If there were one in 10 Torontonians without electricity, we’d send the army in, we would [take] extraordinary measures. And we’re not doing that now,” Hetherington said.
CBC sent the recommendations to all three levels of government. The federal and provincial governments did not provide a comment before the deadline.
The City of Toronto said they have multiple initiatives in motion, including the proposed renovictions bylaw being considered by city council, along with the city directing its staff to explore operational and funding options for a universal student nutrition program next year.