Low-income households are enduring the highest rates of food insecurity since the onset of the cost-of-living crisis, according to the latest Foodbank Hunger Report 2024.
Now in its eleventh year, the report from Foodbank, released 15 October 2024. surveyed 4,260 people and highlights the growing divide between those who are able to absorb or adapt to the rising costs of living and those being left behind.
More than 870,000 (48 per cent) of Australia’s low-income households earning less than $30,000 are experiencing food insecurity. This is the highest rate since the onset of the cost-of-living crisis, up 5 per cent on 2022.
The report offers an insight into the state of hunger across the country and reveals more than half (59 per cent) of all food insecure households are experiencing the most severe level of hardship, regularly skipping meals or going entire days without food.
In Western Australia, 370,000 households experienced food insecurity in the last 12 months. Shockingly, close to 200,000 households experienced severe food insecurity in the last 12 months with 1 in 5 people facing days of no food.
“The findings of this report are very concerning. The cost-of-living crisis is continuing to ravage households in our state and is driving individuals to have to make impossible choices.
"We must not accept that 34 per cent of people in our state are food insecure. Choosing between paying your rent or mortgage and eating food should not be a choice that people in this state need to make," said Foodbank WA CEO Kate O’Hara.
The most common contributing factors to food insecurity in Australia include higher costs of housing and the essentials of food and utilities, while wages fail to keep pace. No surprise that of those using food relief, the number with mortgages has increased again, up to 45 per cent.
Foodbank WA is continuing to experience heightened demand, not only because of the ongoing impacts of the cost-of-living crisis, coupled with core support systems, such as family and friends, no longer being able to assist. Thankfully there is an increase in awareness of where to get help.
“Food relief support from family and friends has dropped to 24 per cent in 2024 compared to 34 per cent in 2023, signalling that cost-of-living crisis hasn’t discriminated - with most Western Australians feeling the effects of a tightening budget and no longer able to help family or friends," Ms O'Hara commented.
"The most vulnerable in our community have been hit the hardest, but it’s affecting everyone, not just the working-poor," she said.
The Emergency Relief & Food Assistance Hotline 1800 979 777 is open Monday to Friday 9.00am - 5.00pm and is the easiest and quickest way to secure a referral to shop at Foodbank.
“We urge anyone struggling with putting food on the table for themselves or their families to reach out and ask for help before their situation worsens. We want to help to keep people in their homes,” Ms O'Hara added.
