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Surge in demand for Haringey foodbanks as cost-of-living crisis bites

18 November 2022
5 Min Read

Foodbanks across the borough are seeing a big rise in demand amid warning over worse to come
By Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

Tottenham Food Hub volunteers (credit Pastor Jason Young)
Tottenham Food Hub volunteers (credit Pastor Jason Young)

Foodbanks in Haringey are witnessing a surge in demand as the cost-of-living crisis takes its toll on residents.

Soaring food and fuel bills are leading more and more people to turn to foodbanks for help – but some are already struggling to cope with the increased demand as winter approaches.

Rising inflation, which recently hit 11.1%, has also led to foodbanks suffering falling donations as grocery shoppers feel the squeeze.

Tottenham Food Hub, which is based at 639 High Road, was set up in 2019 by Gospel Temple Apostolic Church. It runs sessions where people can collect food every other Tuesday from 11am to 1pm. Project manager Susan Jarrett said that in May the foodbank was supporting 38 to 40 people but was now helping 68, and the scale of the increase had taken them by surprise. “We were not expecting that to happen so quickly,” she explained.

The foodbank is located opposite a job centre, and Susan said it was seeing a “high proportion of job seekers” whose benefits are “not enough for them to meet their needs”. She added that more mothers and children, as well as men, were asking for help.

“We have also seen people who are working, and they are also on Universal Credit,” Susan explained. “Not full time – it is ad hoc, sometimes they are working and sometimes not.

“There are elderly people who are coming in who are also finding it difficult. They are the ones finding it more concerning about whether to eat or heat or pay bills. So they are putting money aside for what they believe are large bills, and they do not like the idea of being in debt.”

Local supermarkets alert the foodbank when donations are ready to collect, but Susan said during the past week she had not received expected notifications. “We are really feeling that,” she said. “We have to dip into funds, which are running very low. The funding that we have is getting low by March.”

Susan said the foodbank normally gets enough donations to cover the Christmas period, and local supermarkets had said the usual donations would be available. “All being well, that will help,” she added.

Hornsey Foodbank, based at Middle Lane Methodist Church, was set up during the Covid-19 pandemic in July 2020. It opens every Thursday between 10.30am and 1pm. Co-ordinator Anne O’Daly said in May and June the foodbank was helping 133 households collecting for 483 individuals. By last week, that had risen to 223 hoouseholds collecting for 868 people. The increase was “pretty much in line with quite a few foodbanks in Haringey”, she added.

“It is food costs, fuel bills, housing,” Anne explained. “Quite a number of people are working in low-paid roles and have several jobs. […] There is talk about raising benefits, but with the cap, certainly in London, no-one is going to get any of that extra in their pocket.”

Anne said the foodbank had also been helping self-employed people and freelancers who had been unable to find work. Large families of “seven to eight kids” are also being supported, but she said what the foodbank can give them is “just a drop in the ocean, really”.

Fewer individual donations are being dropped off, Anne explained, and although the foodbank is applying for grants, it faces “a lot of competition” for the money. As winter approaches, the foodbank anticipates demand will rise further as food costs also continue to increase.

“The whole operation is run by volunteers, almost entirely,” Anne said. “It sometimes feels like the whole system is held together by loose strings, and it only needs a few things to go wrong for it to collapse.

“We have a fantastic group of volunteers who are committed and talented and able to give so much passion and energy, but we should not be having to do this. It is a real failing of government.”

The Gospel Centre Food Bank in Wightman Road, Hornsey, opened in 2011. Volunteers distribute food parcels to residents every Saturday from 10am to 12pm.

Co-ordinator Steve Hill said: “I would say we have had a significant increase in visitors since the summer, really. It has gone from about 35 visitors to 50, and last Saturday we had 60 – which is bordering on unsustainability.

“Probably around a month ago we had to reduce what we offer, especially to larger families, because we were needing a fair bit in. So we streamlined things – although we try to give people a bit more choice.”

Steve said the foodbank had seen an increase in the number of larger families attending, along with people in insecure employment, those with no recourse to public funds, and people who struggle to claim benefits because they lack access to a computer or find it difficult to use them.

The foodbank had seen a drop off in food donations during the past year, Steve explained. “Recently, we did get a bit of an upturn in financial donations – but that was probably short-term,” he added. “It is a constant thing, trying to build our resources up.”

Steve said foodbanks were working together as winter approaches. But he warned that as demand continues to rise, there is a risk of foodbanks “not being able to open all the time”.

More information on foodbanks is available on Haringey Council’s website here: https://www.haringey.gov.uk/community/here-help-financial-support/help-paying-food/food-banks-and-food-support-haringey

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