York Region Food Bank use surges 57% in five years

Food bank usage in York Region has increased by 57 per cent over the past five years, according to a newly released food insecurity report from The Food Bank of York Region (FBYR).

The trend has shown little sign of abating to date in 2026. The 2025 York Region Community and Health Services report found that the proportion of residents in York Region experiencing low income has continued to grow, representing over 231,000 residents. According to their report, in 2024, an estimated 22.1% of households in York Region experienced food insecurity—up from 19.4 per cent since 2023 and 11.1 per cent since 2019.

The findings of The Food Bank of York Region’s report represent an analysis of data gathered in 2025 by their network of 72 non-profit community partners, which include municipal food banks, community food pantries, schools, social housing, social services agencies and other non-profit community organizations that provide meals and food in their programs. (To read the full report, see https://fbyr.ca/annual-reports/.)

“The Food Bank of York Region’s network of 72 community partners served nearly 35,000 individuals in 2025, with thirty percent of these being children” stated Alex Bilotta, FBYR’s founder and CEO. “A targeted effort is required to effectively address poverty at its roots and to ensure that no one in our communities is left behind or has to skip meals.”

The report found that residents most vulnerable to food insecurity were those relying on some form of social assistance as their major income source. However, a surprising finding of FBYR’s report was that the percentage of food bank visitors In York Region with employment as their main source of income increased by 113 per cent from 2021 to 2025. Feed Ontario reported in its 2025 Hunger Report that 23 per cent of food bank clients had reported employment as their primary source of income, a statistic mirrored in the findings of FBYR’s report.

FBYR’s report highlighted that the drivers of the continued growth of food insecurity have not changed over the past five years, and come down to the growing disparity between income and the rising cost of living.

“The increase in costs for food and the lack of affordable housing have created a sustained affordability crisis for many people in low-income households,” stated Bilotta. “Wages have not kept pace with the rising cost of living, resulting in more people having to resort to accessing food assistance.”

The report also noted that households reliant on social assistance represent the largest percentage of food bank visitors in York Region, as is the case in Ontario. The report stated that “The income provided by social assistance programs falls well below the poverty line and is woefully short of what is needed for a basic standard of living.”

FBYR’s report outlined several recommendations for addressing the increasingly entrenched crisis of food insecurity, including: address the growing disparity between minimum wage and cost of living in Ontario; increase social assistance rates to align with the cost of living and index these to inflation annually, and take action to address the critical issue of housing unaffordability with public policies.

The report concludes by pointing out the critical role that the food assistance sector is playing in bridging the food insecurity gap for people who can’t afford to put sufficient food on the table. FBYR calls on local and provincial government to provide support to the emergency food assistance sector to equip them to respond to the surge in demand for food assistance.

FBYR is the food collection and distribution hub for York Region, serving a network of 70+/- food pantries, schools, shelters, and non-profit community organizations. The FBYR supports food programs in York Region, serving over 35,000+/- individuals in 11,000+ households. For more information, visit www.fbyr.ca.

Photo: Food bank usage in York Region has increased by 57 per cent over the past five years, according to a newly released food insecurity report from The Food Bank of York Region.