Auckland food banks at risk of closure as government funding ends in 2025

City missionary Helen Robinson said she had asked the Coalition Government for annual funding so she could continue providing 50,000 food parcels in 2025 – but that seemed unlikely.

“I’m worried. I know hundreds of thousands of Aucklanders rely on the mission for food and I know what it means when people don’t have enough food.

The government funds a food distribution network that collects surplus food from producers and wholesalers and delivers it to food centers – although this money is due to end in July 2025.

Robinson said state agencies refer people to food banks but don’t fund them.

“When government funding stopped we said publicly that we needed to reduce the number of food parcels from 50,000 to 20,000 a year and that message still stands today. Without any government assistance over the course of a year, this is what we will be reduced to.”

This year, several Auckland food banks have launched a public appeal for urgent donations.

Buttabean Motivation Foodbank, which feeds up to 200 Auckland families on a weekly basis, has received almost $200,000 after launching a public appeal for funding. It was threatened with closure because demand had outstripped resources.

On the North Shore, the Good Works Trust has secured enough money to keep its school lunch boxes running until the second term of next year.

He receives referrals from the City Mission, state agencies and charities that support people in need.

The trust’s operations director, Sophie Gray, said money had not kept up with demand.

“The vulnerable clients we work with have less support from (the Department of Social Development) and the food banks have less support to supply them as well. So these two things happened at the same time… it was a major upheaval.

Gray is also calling on the government to provide continued funding for food banks.

“Some funding and some recognition that our organization and others like us are actually doing the work of government. We are achieving social change.

She explained that food banks receive grants from charities, but these are increasingly competitive and the money must be spent on rent or staff, not food.

“If we fail to find the funding, we will join the ranks of the many other food banks across the country, I know of at least four that have closed their doors in the last six months.”

Presbyterian Northern Support runs a food parcel service in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill, Communities Feeding Communities.

When workers couldn’t afford to feed themselves, the system was broken, said Acting Executive Director Pam Elgar.

“We are in a cycle where food banks are a thing that continues. I’m a little upset about New Zealand today, where people stand on the streets and ask for money and come like regulars because they don’t have the basics.”

Nonprofits needed funding if the welfare system was sending them clients, Elgar said.

The Ministry of Social Development said food banks began receiving direct government funding in 2020, during the pandemic.

Since then, the government has invested more than $200 million in the sector, directly in food banks as well as in a food distribution network.

Auckland City Mission has received $5.2 million since 2020 and a $100,000 food security initiative grant, while Good Works Charitable Trust received $373,840, the ministry said.

Food security funding was expanded this year with one-off grants to 13 providers.

But it was time-limited funding that the government had no plans to extend beyond this year, Social Development Minister Louise Upston said.

“It’s really a challenge right now because we know that households are struggling, which is why we extended this year.

“The intention going forward is to focus on the infrastructure that supports multiple food banks so we can be more effective in their work.”

This included funding the New Zealand Food Network, which distributes surplus food to community providers, and funding food storage.

Food banks did not receive direct government funding before Covid-19, Upston said.

“If we are serious, which we are, about tackling the cost of living crisis, we need to reduce public spending and one of the opportunities is to end what was created just for Covid.”

Meanwhile, those supplying food said they were struggling to meet existing demand.

It had become common for people in need to go to Presbyterian Support Northern headquarters, but the organization was not distributing food packages from there, Elgar said.

“Our staff are raiding the staff fridge and trying to provide whatever we have so we can at least send them back with something and allow them to get to the food service if they can. »

The City Mission was already handing out food packages to whoever arrived first and was reluctant to have to turn people away, Robinson said.

“In general, it’s honestly a first-come, first-served system because I don’t have the ability to measure hunger. It’s madness, it’s tragic and completely unnecessary. As a country, as a government, we can choose to prioritize the needs of those who don’t have enough money to feed themselves.

That could include funding for food aid agencies and policy changes, such as allowing people on benefits to earn more before their benefits are reduced, she said.

“We are calling for this rate of allowance to be increased so that people can earn more money in paid employment and not have less. »

The North Shore has the highest median rental price in the country, but Gray said those struggling are a diverse group.

Some were unemployed, while others were renting in public housing or receiving mental health care, she said.

“There is not a single part of the North Shore where people are not going through the worst week of their lives. »