Community

Food banks were never meant to be a permanent fixture. Yet, in the UK, they have morphed into an informal infrastructure - a sticking plaster left on so long it has become normalised. Government data now shows that 2.9 million emergency food parcels were distributed in 2024/25 alone. Insecure work and rising costs have forced 30% of users in working households to use food banks. This is not a success of the heart. It is a failure of the system, and its urban governance