Examining Patterns of Food Bank Use Over Twenty-Five Years in Vancouver, Canada

Abstract

Food banks have grown substantially in Canada since the 1980s but little is known about patterns or predictors of engagement including frequency or duration of service use. This study examined food bank program data from a large food bank organization in Vancouver, Canada, finding that between January 1992 and June 2017, at least 116,963 individuals made over 2 million food bank visits. The majority of members were engaged for a short time and came for relatively few visits, but 9% of members engaged in longer-term episodic or ongoing usage over several years, accounting for 65% of all visits. Results from cluster and regression analyses found that documented health and mobility challenges, larger household size, primary income source, and older age were predictors of higher frequency and duration of service usage. Findings add to growing critical examinations of the ''emergency food system'' highlighting the need for better understanding of the broader social policies influencing food bank use.

The impact of novel and traditional food bank approaches on food insecurity: a longitudinal study in Ottawa, Canada

“…In this study, 271 out of 401 participants (67.6%) responded during the final eighteen-month follow-up. Part of the observed attrition could be explained by findings from a large-scale longitudinal study conducted in Vancouver, Canada [ 52 ]. These researchers found that the majority of people who access food banks could be characterized as “short-term, transitional users who visited food banks a handful of times and disengaged after a few weeks or months of use,” and that the 9% who accessed food banks over a long-term accounted for 65% of all food bank visits.…”

Food banks and the production of scarcity

“…The number of food banks has also expanded dramatically, from 56 Trussell Trust food banks providing a three-day supply of food to the equivalent of 40,989 people in 2009-2010, to more than 2,000 Trussell Trust and independent food banks providing in excess of 1.6 million food parcels in April 2019 (Butler, 2017(Butler, , 2019. Notably, the single most common reason for using Trussell Trust food banks is a problem relating to benefits (Trussell Trust, 2019) and the growth of its network has closely mirrored the chronology of welfare reform (Beck, 2018).…”

“…A growing body of research, including on behalf of the Trussell Trust (Loopstra & Lalor, 2017), has shown many of those using food banks need to do so, even if irregularly, on a long-term basis or are unable to afford food for long periods of time (Black & Seto, 2018;Garratt, 2017). Yet the claim that food banks "never turn anyone away empty handed" is clearly fallacious (Beck, 2018).…”

“…A growing body of research, including on behalf of the Trussell Trust (Loopstra & Lalor, 2017), has shown many of those using food banks need to do so, even if irregularly, on a long-term basis or are unable to afford food for long periods of time (Black & Seto, 2018;Garratt, 2017). Yet the claim that food banks "never turn anyone away empty handed" is clearly fallacious (Beck, 2018). In fact, the cruel reality is that by drawing onand further re-enforcinga particular moral economy of scarcity, the rationing and referral systems used by many UK food banks is actively producing further scarcities: whether for those left with nothing because they are deemed "not really in need," "undeserving," or because they have "used up" their allocated visits, or for other providers who end up trying to feed those who cannot access a food bank (Chirgwin, 2019).…”

Changes in accessibility to emergency and community food services during COVID-19 and implications for low income populations in Hamilton, Ontario

“…This condition has been associated with reductions in nutritional outcomes ( Bhattacharya et al, 2004 ; Kirkpatrick and Tarasuk, 2008 ; Olson, 1999 ) and negative physical and mental health impacts in children and adults ( Elgar et al, 2021 ; Jones, 2017 ; Ramsey et al, 2011 ; Seligman et al, 2010 ; Stuff et al, 2004 ). Over at least the past four decades food banks and related services have become an essential line of defense against food insecurity in Canadian communities ( Black and Seto, 2020 ; Holmes et al, 2018 ; Riches, 2002 ; Tarasuk et al, 2020 ). In this respect, Canada is not unlike numerous other wealthy countries where a systematic dismantling of the welfare state took place in the intervening period ( Tarasuk et al, 2014 ).…”