Ontario’s 2026 Fall Economic Statement, released October 29, focuses on responding to US tariffs, fortifying Ontario’s industrial base, and encouraging economic growth through tax cuts and building incentives. The statement itself acknowledges that many Ontarians “continue to face rising costs.” We welcome that recognition, and we support the province’s efforts to protect jobs in a difficult trade environment.
But for the hundreds of thousands of people using food banks, the update offers no relief. The new spending is built for business: nearly $30 billion in tariff supports, an $8 billion investment tax cut, and expanded HST relief for buyers of new homes worth up to $1 million. The “$12.5 billion for families” is largely cuts to gas taxes and license plate fees that were already in place.
Cost of living continues to be the main driver of food bank use, and this update fails to meaningfully address it. At Daily Bread Food Bank, where we recorded over 4.1 million visits in 2025, affordability isn’t abstract. After paying for housing, clients have a median of just $8.33 per day left for food, clothes, transportation, and all other essentials.
The update contains no new investment in Ontario Works or ODSP rates, both of which remain far below the poverty line. In fact, social service spending is flat and budgeted to grow more slowly than inflation, so the gap between income supports and the cost of living continues to widen. People on social assistance continue to fall deeper into poverty each year that this goes unaddressed.
On housing, the update focuses on reducing development charges to increase housing supply. While that’s an important long-term step, renters are feeling the pressure of unaffordability now. Over 90% of Toronto food bank clients are renters or experiencing homelessness, and 88% live in unaffordable housing. Without immediate rent relief, renters fall farther behind while waiting for housing supply to arrive. Any promised housing supply also needs to include affordable housing, which the current update does not guarantee.
The update reaffirms the province’s investment in the skilled trades workforce, a positive step to creating stable jobs in Ontario. Unfortunately, employment is no longer protection from food insecurity and poverty. Almost 50% of Toronto food bank client households have employment and still can’t make ends meet. In high-cost cities like Toronto, work alone is no longer enough to escape poverty.
Nearly 85,000 Ontarians are homeless, including more than 30,000 people on social assistance. Under current rules, when someone on social assistance loses their housing, their shelter allowance is suspended, cutting off the very money they’d need to save for first and last month’s rent on a new home. A Shelter Allowance Reserve Fund would hold that money in escrow until a recipient finds housing. One shelter stay costs the province over $14,000, and healthcare costs for a person experiencing homelessness are six times more than their low-income housed neighbour. Toronto City Council has already asked the province to implement this solution, which received support from over 60 organizations, and we’ll be saying more about this with partners from across the province in the coming weeks.
To make life affordable and address the root causes of poverty and food insecurity, Ontario should:
We don’t want bigger food banks. We want fewer people needing them. At Daily Bread, we’ll keep working with the provincial government and partners to strengthen income supports, advance solutions that keep people housed, and ensure work pays. Ontario’s 2027 Budget in the Spring is the next opportunity to get this right.
