Ronto food bank use surges to record 4.1 million visits — fastest growth yet, report finds

Toronto’s food banks are facing unprecedented demand, with a new report showing more than 4.1 million visits between March 2024 and April 2025 — the highest number ever recorded and a dramatic increase from the previous year. The 2025 Who’s Hungry report, published by Daily Bread Food Bank and North York Harvest Food Bank, reveals that food bank visits have grown at an alarming pace. It took 38 years for Toronto to reach one million annual visits, two years to reach two million, just one year to reach three million, and now another year to surpass four million. That marks an increase of nearly 637,000 visits since 2024 and a 340 per cent jump since 2019. The report found more than 112,000 people accessed food banks for the first time this year, while one in four clients are children. Eighteen per cent of households with children reported their kids went hungry at least once a week. Nearly all respondents—96 per cent—said the rising cost of living is one of the main reasons they rely on food banks.

Daily Bread CEO Neil Hetherington said the surge is driven by systemic problems such as unaffordable housing and inadequate income supports. He emphasized that addressing the housing crisis and improving programs like the Ontario and Canada Disability supports would reduce the need for food assistance. Craig Pickthorne, director of communications for the Ontario Living Wage Network, agreed, saying that food insecurity is ultimately an income issue, not a food issue, since many people simply don’t earn enough to meet basic needs.

The issue extends far beyond Toronto. Food Banks Canada CEO Kirstin Beardsley described the situation as a national crisis, warning that poverty and hunger are becoming normalized across the country. She urged governments at all levels to invest in meaningful policy changes to ensure that no one in Canada goes hungry.

The Who’s Hungry report outlines several key recommendations: federally, to strengthen the Canada Disability Benefit by raising it above the poverty line and expanding eligibility; provincially, to ensure at least a quarter of Ontario’s planned 1.5 million new homes by 2031 are affordable or supportive housing; and municipally, to advance Toronto’s poverty reduction strategy and expand access to housing, childcare, transit, recreation, and food programs.

Despite the grim statistics, Hetherington remains hopeful. He pointed to new initiatives such as the rollout of the Canada Disability Benefit in June and the federal government’s $13-billion Canada Builds housing program as steps in the right direction. With these measures underway, he said he hopes next year’s report will finally bring better news — and perhaps a long-awaited decline in food bank visits.