More than 100,000 residents will use food banks in Mississauga by 2027: City declares emergency, Region steps up

Correction: A previous version of this article noted the full budget for food insecurity in Peel is $4.3 million. The correct figure is $3 million.

Prior to the pandemic, 1 in 37 Mississauga residents used a food bank. Now it’s 1 in 13 and by 2027 it will be 1 in 8. The disturbing figures from Food Banks Mississauga were laid out in front of Peel Regional councillors yesterday, just after the City declared food insecurity an emergency.

“If nothing changes, we estimate there will be 100,000 people in the city of Mississauga using food banks by 2027,” Food Banks Mississauga CEO Meghan Nicholls, told regional councillors Thursday, as the Peel budget for 2025 is being debated.

There was some good news, but it only points to more bad news. 

Regional staff have requested an additional $1.75 million over two years to bring Peel’s total food insecurity budget to $3 million, which is more than what Food Banks Mississauga has requested to meet the skyrocketing demand for its services.

Food Banks Mississauga CEO Meghan Nicholls speaks at City Hall two weeks ago when food insecurity was declared an emergency.

(Paige Peacock/The Pointer)

“Food bank use, poverty and hunger are at the absolute worst that they’ve ever been, even at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Nicholls told Mississauga City Council on November 13. “We run an incredibly lean organization. We can’t cut anymore costs without impacting programs and services.”

On Thursday she told regional councillors her organization served 19,000 different people and 2.2 million pounds of food in 2019, compared to 56,000 residents and 9 million pounds of food last year, with numbers this year set to represent the largest increase in food bank usage of any city in Canada.

In response to the overwhelming demand City Council passed a motion to declare food insecurity an emergency in Mississauga. It recommended councillors advocate to the Region of Peel — where 8.6 percent of the population live in poverty and it’s estimated one in four experience food insecurity — to increase its Food Security Emergency Response Fund for 2025 from $2 million to $3.6 million, “with a robust and transparent application process to ensure equitable fund distribution,” in order to respond to the demand.

The news Thursday, that the Region’s allocation will be $700,000 more than what had been requested came with a caveat, as the use of reserve funds to keep the increase off the property tax bill is not sustainable. Officials including Peel council members repeated that Queen’s Park and Ottawa have to step up, as demand is already outpacing the ability of municipalities to fund food banks, which more and more residents are now forced to use as their grocery store. 

Mississauga is experiencing the fastest growing rate of food bank use in the province, according to the latest numbers in Food Banks Mississauga’s annual impact report.

It revealed that last year the organization provided food support to 56,267 residents — a 58 percent increase from the previous year and a 120 percent increase since 2021. With that increase, the organization now feeds 8 percent of the city’s population or 1 in 13 residents. The organization also reported that 48 percent of users experienced “low food security,” meaning they cannot afford to eat balanced meals and had to reduce portion sizes for some months. Even more alarming, 27 percent of clients are experiencing “very low food security,” sharing that they have to skip meals every month. And in less than three years, it is estimated that 1 in 8 residents of Mississauga, more than 100,000 people will be using a food bank, if current trends continue.

In response to the overwhelming surge in demand, Nicholls says the organization now needs $9 million annually for its operations, a drastic increase from the $2.5 million required to feed everyone in need just five years ago. She stressed, “The need for food banks, the size of food banks, the demand on food banks has grown astronomically.”
 

To maintain operations, the Food Bank now requires $9 million annually, up from $2.5 million prior to the pandemic.

(Food Banks Mississauga) 

In the final months of 2023, the Region of Peel approved $2 million in temporary funding for food security as permanent base funding in its 2024 budget. At the time, councillors also approved an increase of $3 million to the Community Investment Program to be included in the 2024 budget to address increased demand and inflation in “the non-profit sector [and] continuing demand in food security.” The program’s breakdown included a $500,000 investment to address food security.

Nicholls previously told The Pointer that less than one percent of the resources needed come from the Region of Peel. The remainder is raised through the donations from the generosity of the community. While most social services receive some form of government funding, food banks — initially established as temporary measures rather than long term solutions — have not been privileged to such luxuries, leaving these social services challenged to come up with the revenue needed to sustain their resources.   

“Year over year many of the issues facing non-profits remain and continue to impact us too at Food Banks Mississauga, including the instability of financial resources and increased reserve use. Despite the drastic increase in food bank visitors and despite our best efforts, we’ve only been able to grow revenue by two percent,” Nicholls told council.

Although the state of donations was looking bleak halfway through the organization’s annual Thanksgiving food drive, with the food bank only at 52 percent of its goal — significantly behind compared to the same time last year, Food Banks Mississauga was able to achieve its goal of $800,000 and exceed the funds raised in the previous year by 8 percent. While it was promising news, the funding does not meet the level of the current demand on the organization.

Without adequate policy intervention from upper levels of government into social assistance programs, liveable wages and housing that is more aligned with cost of living to pull people above the poverty line, Food Banks Mississauga is forecasting that by 2027 the coffers could be empty.

“If there are no major policy changes at the provincial or federal government to reduce the number of people who are legislated into poverty and forced to use food banks or significant investments to food banks from all levels of government, our reserves will be completely depleted by 2027. This would leave Food Banks Mississauga vulnerable without a financial cushion in case more difficulties come our way,” Nicholls told The Pointer.

Food Banks Mississauga predicts that if the status quo continues, 100,000 residents will rely on its services by 2027.

(Food Banks Mississauga) 

Last October, when she was sitting as a councillor, Mayor Carolyn Parrish proposed working with Food Banks Mississauga to secure a permanent building for the organization to alleviate rental costs so funding could be redistributed elsewhere. Parrish confirmed she is still pursuing plans to acquire regionally owned lands for the Food Bank but because the organization has been forced to use its reserve funds to feed the surging number of residents, it’s no longer in a position to construct a new building.

In 2023, as demand was continuing to grow at unprecedented levels, Food Banks Mississauga expanded their physical footprint in order to increase services by relocating to a 43,000 square foot facility, where it's now paying around $950,000 a year in rent. Nicholls said at the time that while the Food Bank is pursuing eventual ownership of its own facility, that day is likely a number of years away given financial pressures due to the enormous demand for increased food supplies.

As of May 2023, Food Banks Mississauga had built up a reserve of $3.5 million. But now it has been forced to take money out of its future planning just to maintain current service levels which has been a challenge as some residents are already receiving less food than in the past.

“Learning from the financial crisis of 2008, we knew the full impacts of this crisis would continue to be felt for two to five years so we put these funds in reserve to ensure the sustainability of Food Banks Mississauga. As we were also looking for a new home during that time, the funds were partially thought of as a building fund,” Nicholls said.

“However, as food bank use has increased 78 percent versus the previous year but donations have only increased by 2 percent, we have been spending that reserve fund to keep Food Banks Mississauga operating at the level the community requires.” 

As Food Banks Mississauga heads into its annual Holiday Drive, which runs until January 10, the organization has set a goal of $2.5 million in donations. For every $1 the organization can provide healthy and appropriate food for one meal to residents in need. To donate, visit foodbanksmississauga.ca/donate/holiday.

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @mcpaigepeacock

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