Food Banks BC Hunger Report 2025
Food insecurity is at a record high in British Columbia, with food bank usage soaring to unprecedented levels.
1 in 4 British Columbians is facing food insecurity, and a third of them are children. Women, Indigenous and racialized communities, newcomers, and people with disabilities are disproportionately affected.
Hunger in British Columbia
Overwhelmed food banks can no longer compensate for systemic gaps
British Columbia is experiencing an affordability crisis, with an increasing number of BC households unable to cover the cost of essential needs. Increased costs are also affecting BC’s charitable hunger relief sector, with many food banks reaching their capacity to meet the demand.
Many food banks reported shortages of food and donations, forcing them to purchase more food, place limits on how much food they can distribute, or change how often their clients can pick up food.
We’ve seen a 79% increase in the number of visits to BC food banks since 2019.
Individuals Served & Number of Visits in March 2025
This graph depicts the number of individuals served and the number of visits made to BC food banks during the months of March from 2019 to 2025, excluding 2020. Although the majority of BC’s food banks reported an annual increase in the number of individual clients served, there was a 1% decrease in the overall number of visits to food banks over the same period. This is a lack of capacity, not need, as many food banks have reported that they have reduced the frequency of their services to sustain demand.
Food bank use in BC key findings
While many of those experiencing food insecurity turn to family and friends for help, choose to go without some essentials, or use food banks intermittently, our data on the 113,606 individuals that received support from BC food banks in March 2025 gives us a glimpse into the picture of hunger in our province.
Since 2019, the HungerCount data shows not only substantial increases in the number of individuals and visits, but also a growing share of families and employed clients. With 1.3 million out of 5.7 million British Columbians missing meals, eating less, and worrying about where their next meal will come from, there are far too many of our neighbours facing impossible choices for themselves and their families.
Digging into the demographics
Analysing the identity, income sources, housing situations and reasons for accessing food banks helps us to understand where our social safety net is falling short of protecting population groups disproportionately impacted by poverty.
Identity
The 2025 HungerCount shows an annual increase in the number of racialized community members and immigrants or refugees; 9% and 4% increases respectively.
Accounting for a third of all clients, children continue to be concerningly overrepresented at BC’s food banks.
Income
The number of people with employment income that are accessing BC food banks has more than doubled since 2019, making up the highest proportion of food bank client income sources.
Regional variations highlight the intricate relationship between local economies, housing costs, and employment — a relationship too complex to explain fully with available data, but strongly linked to broader trends in affordability and economic opportunity across the province.
Housing Type
Market rental housing remains the most common housing type for BC food bank clients, making up 75% of clients’ housing.
In 2025, we continue to see an increase in the number of homeowners, climbing 1.4% to 8.7% of clients, and a doubling of the proportion of emergency and youth shelter users to 4%.
Reasons for Accessing a Food Bank
The cost of food has emerged as the leading cause of food bank visits in BC, with inadequate income from work and cost of housing cited as other primary drivers of food bank use in BC.
The average Canadian household is predicted to spend $800 more on groceries in 2025 than in 2024, and we’ve seen a 31.7% rise in the cost of food in BC since January 2019.
“The rise in food bank use is no longer limited to the unemployed or unhoused. Increasingly, it’s workers who are turning to these services.”
Living Wage for Families BC (2025)
Managing the demand
Food banks are facing a dual crisis: a surge in demand coinciding with a sharp decline in support.
According to a Food Banks Canada network survey, 11% of BC food banks have turned clients away because they have run out of food, and 81% of food banks reported the cost of food as a challenge for their food procurement, compounded with a decrease in monetary donations.
Most food banks operate with minimal or no paid staff, relying heavily on volunteers for daily operations. With scarce resources stretched to a breaking point, many are struggling to maintain their current level of service.
Despite being stretched to their limits, and with no core funding, food banks are responding with ingenuity. Their deep commitment to community is fueling new efforts to pool resources and connect clients with supports that foster economic resilience.
Going Beyond Food: Off-ramping Clients
Food banks are innovating by becoming community hubs. In many small BC communities, they are the primary service provider for low-income households, naturally evolving into central locations for integrated social supports. These now often include employment, immigration, and social services.
These formal and informal partnerships are vital, co-locating essential supports directly within a trusted community environment to help people navigate poverty.
“One thing that continues to stand out is that the increase in client usage has made everything at our food bank significantly more complex.”
Kimberley Helping Hands Food Bank
Policy Recommendations
Achieving a hunger-free province is possible. The data from food bank usage helps inform the strategic government investments we need to see to meet this goal.
Food banks demonstrate incredible resilience every day, but charity alone cannot solve this systemic crisis. The good news is that we have a proven solution: purposeful government policy.
History shows us that targeted investment can, and has, driven down poverty and food insecurity. We can achieve this again by championing policies that build food security, ensure adequate household incomes, support Indigenous food sovereignty, and provide governance and national leadership.
Recommended Policies
While food banks are working tirelessly to meet the day-to-day food needs of their communities, they are not a solution to food insecurity.
Poverty and food insecurity carry economic, social, and ethical costs to society. Research has shown that government has the power and the obligation to address poverty through policy.
To this end, Food Banks BC, in alignment with the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, proposes four pillars for policy action.
Full Report
Interested in learning more about the state of hunger in British Columbia?
Read our full 2025 Hunger Report.
2024 Hunger Report
“Strengthening and rebuilding the safety net — reinforcing those ropes of support — will restore hope and provide people with the stability they need to move forward.”
Central Okanagan Food Bank