Links between housing and food insecurity

Jun 11, 2025

Article By Dr. Lucy Harry – Head of Research

Research in collaboration with the University of Calgary and Calgary Homeless Foundation

Calgary Food Bank staff with crates of fresh vegetables

During the cold snap of February 2024, I met with a gentleman – I’ll call Mike – in a community centre in the South of Calgary where he was hanging out during the day trying to stay warm. I had come to chat with him about the impact that the Calgary Food Bank had had on his life. He told me that he had worked as a decorator, but following a climbing accident, he had suffered a brain injury and since then had struggled to maintain work, and consequently, housing. He had been relying on the Calgary Food Bank for food for the past several years. He was currently unhoused, and we had to end the interview early because he needed to go, on foot, to reserve a bed for the night at one of Calgary’s homeless shelters. This story, while heartbreaking, is unfortunately becoming all the more common. For example, our frontline staff are interacting with more and more individuals who, with a bit of prompting, reveal they are living in their vehicles.

This is an indictment of the harsh economic circumstances – including the rising costs of housing and food – coupled with increasing gaps in the social safety net. In collaboration with the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, we sought to investigate the empirical relationship between food insecurity and homelessness. Professor Ron Kneebone led a database matching project, where he linked anonymized data from the Calgary Food Bank with anonymized data from the Calgary Homeless Foundation (CHF). The researchers were interested in those who had entered the homeless shelter system for the first time between January 1, 2012 and September 29, 2023 and identified 12,246 single individuals and 2,113 families in the CHF’s sample for whom this was the case. Of those, 63% of single individuals and 60% of families had accessed the Calgary Food Bank in the five years prior to entering the homeless shelter system. This communicates a powerful message about the interconnection between housing and food insecurity: the majority of those accessing Calgary’s homeless shelter system have also utilized the Calgary Food Bank.

To test the hypothesis that individuals and families under financial stress struggle to maintain their housing – which includes measures such as turning to food bank for assistance – the researchers analysed the intensity of individuals’ and families’ usage of the Calgary Food Bank in the five years prior to entering the homeless shelter system for the first time. Their analysis confirmed this hypothesis, with the average individual and average family increasing their food bank usage by 70% in the period proceeding losing their housing, with, for example, some families receiving up to 20 hampers in the year prior to entering the shelter system. Professor Ron Kneebone describes the significance of this study as follows:

“homelessness is often the result of a steady worsening of one’s circumstances. The use of a food bank is an early indicator of housing distress. Knowing this, policymakers and service agencies may be able to develop interventions to prevent homelessness before it happens. Taking advantage of this opportunity requires greater attention being paid to the common experiences of individuals and families relying on food banks and those facing the threat of homelessness.”

While we do not suggest that food banks are the solution to homelessness, the link between food and housing insecurity is undeniable. These findings accord with what our clients have told us, such as: “Because I was able to get the food bank I was able to make rent. I was able to house the kids. The number one is to make sure they have shelter.” For others, the food provided enables them to “contribute” in lieu of rent to their friends and families who are housing them. Some talked about how it gave them the strength and mental clarity to try and improve their life circumstances – including connecting with housing resources – because their immediate needs were fulfilled. As one client explained: “Food is fundamental to life and without that, what can you do?”