A volatile combination of high housing costs, pandemic job losses, rising food costs and an anticipated further pull-back on government supports is creating a “perfect storm” that has Canada’s food banks bracing for a “tidal wave” of new clients in the months ahead, according to the new Food Banks Canada HungerCount 2021 report.
In March 2021, Canadians made 1.3 million visits to food banks, representing a 20.3 per cent increase over March 2019, the largest jump in visits since the country was plunged into recession in 2008.
Quebec is the province that is experiencing the largest increase in need compared to 2019, with a jump of 38 per cent. That is followed by Alberta at 29.6 per cent and Ontario at 23 per cent.
In addition, the landmark report, which is the only research study encompassing the country’s 4750+ food banks and community organizations, found that:
- Over one-in-four food banks located in larger urban centres saw their usage more than double compared to two years earlier
- One third of clients are children, even though they only represent one-fifth (19 per cent) of the general population
- 27 per cent of Canadians accessing food banks are on fixed incomes such as pensions or disability benefits
- Food bank demand in larger urban centres was more likely to be attributed to job loss
- Urban food banks were also more like to be accessed by racialized populations than food banks in other regions
- Twothirds (67 per cent) of current food bank clients live in rental housing
- 46 per cent of Canadians now say the cost of housing is the highest obstacle in affording food – up from 21 per cent in 2020
- Almost half of all people who need help from a food bank are adults who live alone
- Single adults are grossly over-represented in food banks, and one third of all single adults in Canada live in poverty
“You’ve got high housing costs, you’ve got high food costs, and now you’ve got pandemic-related job losses and the claw-back of government supports,” Kirstin Beardsley, chief network services officer at Food Banks Canada, told CTV News. “We’re seeing that is having a real effect on the number of people who need our support… It is driven by increasing job loss. The higher number of urban centres in these provinces have seen astronomical growth. In some cases, food banks have seen their client numbers double since before the pandemic.”
Beardsley added: “When you’ve got low-income folks who are paying above 50 per cent – and in the lowest income brackets, it’s actually upwards of 70, 80, 90 per cent of their monthly income is going towards rent. It’s an untenable situation. Food insecurity in Canada is really an issue related to low incomes and poverty. That’s why people go to the food bank. It’s not really about food much at all.”
“We have a pivotal choice to make, to return to a “pre-pandemic” cycle of poverty or to build a better Canada where no one goes hungry and poverty is addressed at its root causes,” added David Armour, Interim CEO of Food Banks Canada. “Early in the pandemic, government housing and income supports helped flatten demand at Canada’s food banks, but in recent months, visits are beginning to surge with nearly one-in-seven food banks experiencing a doubling of demand – and food bank visits soaring in Quebec, Alberta, and Ontario,” he says.
According to the report, COVID-19 related government supports like the CERB and housing relief measures helped to temporarily flatten visits to food banks by supporting vulnerable Canadians who were hit hard by the pandemic.
Food Banks Canada is calling for five steps to stem the tidal wave of increased poverty and food insecurity Canada faces in the months ahead:
- Implement a national rent support program based on an expanded version of the Canada Housing Benefit so Canadians who are struggling to afford their rent can access support while the rest of the National Housing Strategy takes effect.
- Implement a sweeping overhaul of Canada’s outdated EI policy, benefits and eligibility requirements – including allowing workers to retain more earnings while claiming EI, permanently expanding eligibility to include “self-employed” Canadians, the creation of a Disability Hiring Strategy – and government incentives for employers who offer a living wage.
- Introduce a phased approach to work with provinces to test and pilot new and progressive minimum income floor programs focused on breaking the poverty cycle.
- Make single, low-income, working-age adults a priority consideration in all future poverty reduction measures, including an expanded and modernized EI and mental health supports to ensure that this vulnerable population is no longer left behind.
- Create a new Northern Development and Revitalization Plan and skills training opportunities and collaborate with the newly formed Inuit to Crown Working Group to initiate a comprehensive review of Nutrition North Canada to determine why the program is only minimally achieving its objectives of reducing the cost of food in the North.
