HOBART City Mission says it cannot source large food deliveries from supplier Woolworths, or any other major supermarket, and there are fears the charity will run out of food within days.

The organisation is experiencing unprecedented demand for food assistance, driven by the Hobart housing crisis and people forced out of work by the coronavirus shutdown.

Hobart City Mission CEO John Stubley said there was already a sharp rise in the need for food assistance before the shutdown began.

“In the past week demand has risen to new levels, and is clearly being driven by casual workers who have suddenly lost their job,” he said.

“We have even heard from clients who lost multiple casual jobs on the same day last week.

“On Friday, we had people lined up at both our offices seeking food assistance and referrals to other services. We estimate about one-third of these were casual workers who had lost their job earlier in the week.”

media_camera Hobart City Mission CEO John Stubley.

Mr Stubley said regular supplier Woolworths stopped taking large food orders several weeks ago.

“They did allow us to place a bulk order two weeks ago, but then we had to wait six days for delivery due to demand on their services, before supplying less than one-third of what we ordered,” he said.

“Woolworths supermarkets in Hobart will not allow us to go over the two-item restriction for in-store shopping. Our typical food orders include around 200 items, every week, often more.”

Mr Stubley said other generous food donors had helped keep Hobart City Mission afloat in the past week or two, but that was no longer sustainable.