Toronto food banks are sounding the alarm on the cost-of-living crisis after visits to the city’s food banks surged 38 per cent from the previous year, cracking three million visits for the first time in the city’s history.
The data, compiled by the Daily Bread and North York Harvest food banks in their annual Who’s Hungry report, found food bank usage is up a staggering 400 per cent since pre-pandemic levels. The surge comes at a time when Torontonians continue to struggle with unaffordable housing, high food prices and precarious employment.
It took food banks 38 years to hit one million visits across the city, the report notes, with Toronto reaching that figure in 2021. Just two years later, that number reached two million.
The number of those served has only increased since. Between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, food banks in Toronto saw a record-breaking 3.49 million visits.
“It is unfathomable that the number of client visits to food banks is now higher than the City of Toronto’s entire population,” said Neil Hetherington, the CEO of Daily Bread Food Bank, in a press release.
“Our governments cannot continue to stand by as people are pushed further into poverty due to astronomical housing and food prices, years of inflation, stagnating wages and insufficient income supports,” he said. "We need and demand action now.”
Those 3.49 million visits come from over 291,000 individual Torontonians who accessed a food bank — that’s one in 10 people living in the city. More than half of those people, 155,000 individuals, used a food bank for the very first time in the past year.
Over half of new food bank users cited the high cost of living as their reason for visiting food banks. A recent job loss or unemployment was the second most common reason.
“Almost 155,000 new clients in a year cannot be the new normal in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Food banks are not long-term solutions to hunger in our city,” the report notes.
Despite accessing food banks, most visitors reported missing meals to pay other bills — and nearly 30 per cent reported not eating for an entire day due to food insecurity.
The median monthly income of food bank visitors was $1,265, which represents an 11 per cent increase compared to the previous year. This boost in wages hasn't done much in the face of rising costs, the report notes.
“Survey respondents had a median of $7.78 left per person per day after paying rent and utilities,” the report found. “If a food bank client were to take a $6.60 roundtrip on the TTC, however, they would be left with $1.18 per day for food, clothing, medications, and other necessities. This is grossly insufficient for anyone to live a dignified life and realize their right to food.”
Food banks are also seeing an increase in visitors who have permanent or full-time employment, indicating a stable job is no longer enough to guarantee food security. Twenty per cent of food bank visitors reported they had full-time employment, up from 15 per cent the year prior.
The report also included demographic data for food bank visitors and found over 80 per cent are renters, despite only 40 per cent of overall Torontonians renting in the city. This year also saw an unprecedented surge, 420 per cent, in unhoused people accessing food banks.
Newcomers were also disproportionately represented in food bank data, with 55 per cent of visitors being immigrants, refugees and those with temporary status.
This was the first year the report collected data on visitors’ student status, and food banks learned almost one in three visitors are students. More than half of these students are international students, the vast majority of whom, 93 per cent, went to a food bank for the first time this past year.
When comparing the income of students who visited food banks, the report found international students have just $3.30 left in their pockets after paying for rent or housing, compared to $7.78 among all other students.
Food bank usage is only expected to increase further and Toronto is likely in for another broken record next year.
“Based on our projections and the worsening level of poverty in our communities, we expect to exceed 4 million visits by this time next year,” the report reads.
The Daily Bread and North York Harvest food banks are calling on all levels of government to strengthen social services and build more affordable housing.
“Food banks cannot and will not solve this problem, and we will not stand by quietly while we are asked to do impossible things,” said Ryan Noble, the executive director of the North York Harvest Food Bank.
“The supports that we provide everyday to thousands of people across our communities are critical, but do not mistake them for solutions,” he said. “Without policy action things will only get worse.”
