In November, 2025, FoodShare signed onto an open letter from food banks against Bill 60, a bill designed to make it easier to evict tenants across Ontario.

“As food banks and food programs across Ontario, we are on the frontlines of the affordability crisis sweeping across this province, and we are writing to you to say that we are scared – terrified in fact – of the consequences that Bill 60 will have in the communities we serve.

Food bank use is at an all time high: more than one million people in Ontario are using a food bank and one third of them are children. Food banks are spending more and distributing less to try to keep up with demand. This is not sustainable. 

The high cost of rent is the primary reason people come through our doors. Every year we call on the provincial government to provide some relief to renters: bring back rent control, stronger tenant protections and investment in social and rent-geared to income housing.

But every year our calls go unanswered.

At a time when people across this province are struggling with a housing and food security crisis, legislation has been proposed that would make things far worse for the millions of Ontario renters working as hard as they can just to keep a roof over their heads.

Bill 60 will make it easier and faster to evict tenants across the board: reducing the number of days to catch up on rent; seriously limiting the defenses a tenant can rely on at an eviction hearing; making it much harder to appeal an eviction order; eliminating the compensation to tenants for landlord’s own use evictions and creating a searchable evictions’ blacklist to make it impossible for an evicted tenant to get back on their feet and find a new place to name just a few.

These are very dangerous changes to bring in when so many are hungry and barely hanging onto their homes. Weakening tenant rights will increase rents and will undoubtedly drive more people to come to food banks. Just like the more than one million people in Ontario coming through our doors, we – the food banks and food programs across the province –  are barely hanging on.

Food banks across Ontario have seen our numbers skyrocket to record breaking levels over the last five years. Our programs are at their limit, teetering at the very edge of what they can manage. We simply cannot afford more legislation that makes life harder for the people we serve because we cannot meet the need as it is. The risks are too high in the crisis we’re in to bring in legislation like this. 

In the midst of unprecedented hunger and homelessness, we’re asking you for a little grace. Our communities and our programs cannot withstand the impact this legislation will bring.

We’re calling on this government to immediately withdraw Bill 60.”

The full letter and original petition can be found at https://www.noticenorthyork.ca/bill60openletter