In March 2022-monthly food bank visits were up to 1.5 million!

Published last week, Food Banks Canada’s definitive HungerCount 2022 report found that more Canadians are visiting food banks than at any point during the height of the pandemic.

In March 2022- monthly Food banks visits were up to 1.5 million, the highest totals ever recorded!

Driven by soaring rents, and a 11.4% increase in food costs (the largest single-year jump since 1981), Canadians on fixed incomes are being hit the hardest. Seniors are up to 30.9% increased monthly food bank use (2019-2022) Student visits to food banks have increased more than 41.8 %. The HungerCount 2022 report also revealed a huge increase in the number of employed people accessing food banks: up 23.7% since 2019.

According to survey respondents, the top three reasons people accessed a food bank this year were food costs, low provincial social assistance rates, and housing costs.

“In March 2022, there were nearly 1.5 million visits to food banks in Canada, the highest March usage on record even though unemployment rates were at their lowest on record in the same month. This year, we are seeing a trend that we have not previously observed. Despite the unemployment rate being at 5.3 per cent, “the lowest on record” since 1976, food bank visits are the highest they have ever been. For now, the state of the economy as measured through standard indicators such as unemployment rates has become much less associated with food bank demand on a national scale.

With the end of pandemic benefits in late 2021 occurring almost in lockstep with significant increases in the cost of living in early 2022, our findings illustrate the past year has been particularly disastrous for low-income households. According to Statistics Canada, the lowest income quintile saw their disposable incomes decline by7.5 % compared to the previous year. Massive increases in the costs of core items like food, rent, and fuel mean a proportionately much larger share of this reduced income would go to paying for these essential items.”

The above information is from Mazon Canada–and quoted from the HungerCount report 2022. Jewish Family Services is most appreciative of the grants from Mazon Canada to assist our food security programs.