The face of hunger in Toronto is growing older.

Adults over age 45 are the fastest growing group of food bank users in the city, making up more than one-third of 905,970 visits in 2015-16, according to the Daily Bread Food Bank.

A decade ago, older adults made up just over one-quarter of food bank users, but today they account for 35 per cent of those relying on free food hampers.

Meanwhile, the opposite has happened for children under 18, who represented 34 per cent of food bank clients in 2006. That number has fallen to 29 per cent this year, says Who’s Hungry, the food bank’s annual report.

“One of the biggest demographic shifts observed in those accessing food banks in Toronto is the reversal of age groups at opposite ends of the age spectrum,” says the report being released today.

“While large strides have been made in the last 10 years in income support for children, there has been little done for a large cohort of older adults, especially single people, who have lost their jobs after the recession and are having a difficult time re-entering the labour market,” the report says.

Stagnant welfare rates mean those who have lost jobs or have become disabled are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of food and housing in the city, says the report’s author, Richard Matern.

“The vast majority of these older adults — 70 per cent — had some sort of disability or serious illness. They were working in the last 10 years but they lost their jobs, and after that they were forced to rely on social assistance,” he says.

The rise in these older food bank users illustrates “a fundamental gap in our social safety net,” he adds.

Former CN rail conductor Michael Moroz, 60, is one example.

About 10 years ago, after two decades with CN, Moroz left and invested his pension in a Christmas tree business. But by 2007, the business was foundering and Moroz developed spinal stenosis, which left him in severe pain and unable to walk.

Back surgery helped him regain his ability to walk, but the ongoing weakness and pain means he has been unable to work.

In 2014, Moroz moved into a subsidized apartment in an Etobicoke seniors building. But the $770 in monthly benefits he receives from the Ontario Disability Support Program doesn’t leave much for food after he pays his rent, utilities and outstanding debts.

“I always thought about the stigma around using a food bank and said it was not for me,” he says.

But after he began volunteering at Daily Bread’s Etobicoke warehouse, he realized he wasn’t alone.

“I share the same emotions of most people here,” he says. “They are embarrassed, but grateful as hell.”

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The education level of food bank users is also rising. A decade ago, just 22 per cent had post-secondary education, while today 36 per cent have college diplomas or university degrees. The jump in more educated food bank users may indicate that both foreign-trained and those who have received post-secondary education in Canada are having more difficulty getting their first job or re-entering the job market, the report notes.

Food bank use in the city was up slightly over last year, largely due to a spike in early 2016 that coincided with rising food costs and Syrian newcomers moving out of hotels and into housing, says the report.

In an ongoing trend, food bank use continues to shift from the city’s rapidly gentrifying downtown and into the inner suburbs.

Since 2008, food bank visits have dropped 16 per cent in the core but have spiked by 48 per cent in Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough.

In the past year alone, Etobicoke saw a 15 per cent increase and Scarborough saw a 7 per cent increase, the report says.

But with last fall’s federal election, “the stars have aligned” at the local, provincial and federal levels of government on poverty reduction, the report says.

A new, more generous federal child benefit and a provincial commitment to develop a portable housing benefit have the potential to cut food bank use, says Matern. A provincial panel working on welfare reform and Ontario’s planned “basic income” pilot project are also promising developments.

Meanwhile, the city’s commitment to a 10-year poverty reduction strategy to tackle affordable housing, child care and transit for low-income residents is providing leadership at the local level, the report says.

“The driving force behind the need for food banks — a lack of income — cannot be met with food alone,” says the report, based on more than 1,000 interviews with clients between March 2015 and March 2016.

“The level of hunger faced in Canada’s wealthiest city is unacceptable, and the government’s outdated income support system needs a major overhaul.”

Across Canada, more than 850,000 adults and children rely on food banks every month, including about 360,000 in Ontario and 45,000 in Toronto, according to Food Banks Canada.