In 2024, one in four households in Ottawa experienced food insecurity. A year earlier, one in seven families were food insecure, according to Ottawa Public Health (OPH).
The significant jump, affected by inflation, is increasing concern that families and single-income households in the city may not have enough money to buy nutritious food.
The situation is putting pressure on food banks to keep up with soaring demand. The Ottawa Food Bank has seen a 90 per cent increase in visits from 2019 to 2024. According to their latest annual report, 40 per cent of community food banks in the network were turning people away.
The Parkdale Food Centre is coping, but Vladimir Solorzano, the centre’s grocery program manager, says it hasn’t been easy.
“We were providing food for about 800 [people] two years ago, now we are providing food monthly for an average of 1,600 people,” he said. “As we were exiting COVID, we started to see less donations coming in, both from individuals and from institutions. So that meant that we had less money.”
To counter rising costs, Parkdale implemented a point system and is now working like a normal grocery store. Instead of providing hampers like standard food banks, visitors can use points to pick from a variety of produce, meats, dairy and non-perishable foods.
“People that visit us are able to choose what they need,” he said. “The number of points we provide are according to the size of the household. This allows us to play with the stuff we have and to push certain products more than others to balance shortages of [items.] That’s been working quite well for us.”
The centre also benefits from a partnership with the Ottawa Food Bank, which provides 30 to 40 per cent of the food Parkdale distributes. Solorzano, who has seen many donation centres close since the pandemic, says the donations are “a lifeline for many food banks.”
Ottawa Public Health says a family of four needs to spend $1,244 to eat healthy food, up $156 since 2022. Over the same period, the monthly cost for healthy food for a single person individual household between age 31 and 50 has risen to $435 per month, an increase of $43.
The price of most staples have risen since 2022. Some of the most dramatic price increases were in ground beef and infant formula, which rose by more than 29 and 50 per cent respectively.
OPH estimates that, in 2024, the average full-time minimum wage earner only had $100 left after food and rent, down from $349 a year prior.
For its part, the Parkdale Food Centre prioritizes distributing healthy foods.
“We make an effort to ensure that whatever we distribute doesn’t have carbs, sugar, excess of sodium or other additives, so the idea is to remain as healthy as possible,” Solorzano explained. “If you come to our place, you will always find gluten-free bread, tofu, alternatives to dairy, halal beef, halal chicken, regular beef, regular chicken and a large variety of produce, fruits and vegetables.”
Solorzano says that his food centre is always looking for alternatives to stay in operation despite the demand. Their main goal remains to never turn down anyone. In the next five years, he hopes they can adopt a model with paying and non-paying customers to have the ability to offer a month-worth of food rather than four or five days of provisions.
“When this comes into play, I think there will be positives, but also there will be challenges,” he said. “Some people might go to more than one food bank, I don’t blame them, but hopefully we’re able to offer them more variety and more food.”
