What we need in the 2025 City Budget

As the City of Toronto prepares its Budget for 2025 to fund and maintain core services, programs and infrastructure, Neil Hetherington, CEO of Daily Bread Food Bank, deputed at the City’s Budget Committee to put forward recommendations to combat poverty and food insecurity (video below).

The City of Toronto has made important progress in investing in and securing support from all levels of government to address the challenges driving food insecurity, but much more needs to be done.

Our Who’s Hungry 2024 report found that more than 1 in 10 Torontonians now rely on food banks — up from 1 in 20 two years ago. In every part of the city, food bank visits have increased by over 30% over the past year. In 2024, Daily Bread member food banks saw more than 3.75 million client visits, a 26% increase from the previous year.

The 2025 budget includes funding for important initiatives like RentSafe TO, Toronto Rent Bank, and EPIC program; as well as a new EPIC Interim Rent Relief Program and Rental Renovation License program to prevent evictions and homelessness. But to address the root causes of hunger and poverty, sustained investments are critical.

Key recommendations for the budget include:

• Affordable housing: Renters, who make up 80% of food bank clients, are in dire need of more affordable housing. Increasing investment in the Multi-Unit Residential Acquisition (MURA) program and Rent-Geared-to-Income housing are essential to preserving and building affordable housing.

• Student Nutrition Program: Expanding Toronto’s Student Nutrition Program with a proposed $6 million investment will help provide meals to 21,500 additional students by the end of 2025. Daily Bread Food Bank is proud to support the City’s vision for a universal Student Nutrition Program, but further support from other levels of government will be required to realize this vision.

• Fair Pass Transit Discount Program: Freezing the TTC fare is a positive step, however, expanding the Fair Pass Transit Discount program to include low-income residents aged 20-64 will ensure that the affordability of public transit benefits a wider group of Torontonians.

• Leverage city spaces: City properties and vacant spaces, including community centres, libraries, vacant warehouses, and Toronto Community Housing buildings should be repurposed for food programs to help ease the growing demand for food bank services.

• Poverty reduction action plan: The city must release the Third Term Action Plan for Toronto’s Poverty Reduction Strategy with clear targets, timelines, and funding to effectively tackle the unprecedented levels of food insecurity.

Daily Bread Food Bank continues to amplify and advocate for bold, comprehensive actions from all levels of government to ensure that no one in Toronto goes hungry. We will also persist in calling on the federal government for a Canada Disability Benefit that is adequate, accessible and free from clawbacks to support Torontonians with disabilities disproportionately impacted by poverty.

Tell your elected officials to take action against hunger and poverty by sending them an email through our online form.

Watch CEO Neil Hetherington’s full five-minute deputation below: