Kitchener Centre is among the electoral ridings with the highest rate of food bank use in the province, according to a new study by Feed Ontario—.

According to the study, one in 10 people in Kitchener Centre used a food bank in 2018, which added up to a total of 72,825 visits.

The high rate of food bank use in Kitchener Centre is unsurprising to Wendi Campbell, CEO of the Food Bank of Waterloo Region, who said all ridings in the Waterloo region are home to families forced to make "impossible choices" with their budgets.

"They're choosing between food or rent, paying for food or paying bills," Campbell said, noting that people in Kitchener Centre also tend to have lower incomes than people in other nearby ridings.

Job loss, divorce, illness all factors

According to the study by Feed Ontario — formerly the Ontario Association of Food Banks — the median household income in Kitchener Centre is the lowest in the region at $63,001.27 annually.

In contrast, the ridings of Cambridge, Kitchener South-Hespeler, Kitchener-Conestoga and Waterloo were all above $80,000, according to the study.

Campbell said she hears stories every day from people struggling to make ends meet, whether it be because of a manufacturing job loss, an illness in the family or divorce.

"There are just so many reasons," she said. "Every story is different and every situation is different."

Compared to all other electoral ridings in the province, Kitchener Centre had the fourth-highest rate of per capita food bank use. It ranked just behind Ottawa-Vanier, Hamilton Centre and Thunder Bay-Atikokan.

Food bank use up province-wide

Although certain ridings see more need than others, food bank use is up across the province, the report found, with a three per cent increase over 2017.

According to the report, two significant contributors to reliance on food banks are gaps in the present social safety net, and an increasing trend in the job market toward precarious contract work and away from stable, full-time jobs.

Cameron Dearlove is executive director of the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank, where five in 100 people used the food bank in 2018. He says most people using the food bank are on some sort of fixed income. (Paula Duhatschek/CBC)

Cameron Dearlove, executive director of the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank, said that rings true to his experience.

He said most people who use the Cambridge food bank are on some sort of fixed income, whether it be a pension, Ontario Works (OW) or the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).

Among those who are working, insecure employment is a challenge, he said.

"Especially around whether their hours get cut, if they lose their employment and sometimes don't have access to things like EI," Dearlove said.

"There aren't as many good jobs out there that people can rely on, so when people have some challenges it's not as easy for people to recover."

Going forward, Feed Ontario is recommending that the province bolster the existing OW and ODSP programs, and invest in affordable housing and greater economic opportunities.

"I think it's continuing to work in collaboration with government, with community ... to come up with a long term solution so that people are not coming to our doors in the first place," said Campbell.

Top 10 provincial ridings by food bank use

In order of food bank use per capita: