More Americans go hungry after COVID relief measures end
Volunteers pack bags of donated food to give to families at St. Margaret's Center in Inglewood, Calif., in November 2023. Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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About 13.5% of households were food insecure in 2023, with 10 states seeing increases in food insecurity.
The percentage of American households who went hungry at least some of the time rose again last year, marking the second straight year of increases in food insecurity after nearly a decade of decline, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released this week.
The increase is the result of the end of COVID-19 pandemic relief programs coupled with current economic realities, including instability in the labor market and higher food prices and housing costs, said Kassandra Martinchek, senior research associate at the Urban Institute.
“When there are economic pressures that are squeezing household budgets, oftentimes it is the food budget that is the first to get squeezed,” Martinchek said.
The increase in food insecurity comes as Congress considers reauthorization of the farm bill, which funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the country’s largest food assistance program. SNAP benefits have been a key sticking point in farm bill negotiations.
About 13.5% of households were food insecure sometimes or often in 2023, up from 12.8% in 2022, according to the report. Households in the South continued to experience higher rates of food insecurity compared to other regions.
And compared to the pre-pandemic years, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, New York, Oregon, South Carolina and Texas all saw increases in food insecurity.
In Los Angeles County, for example, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank is seeing “high levels of need,” said spokesperson David May. Before the pandemic, the food bank reached about 300,000 people every month. Now, it and its partner agencies are reaching about 900,000 people per month, down from over 1 million during the worst of the pandemic.
This year, the food bank has distributed about 82 million pounds of food so far, a 10% increase from the same period last year, May said.
“A lot of people were hoping, now that unemployment numbers are under control and look a little bit more like pre-pandemic levels, that those food insecurity numbers would go down too, but one big factor seems to be the cost of everything going up so much,” May said.
Pre-pandemic, clients would request food towards the last week of the month, after they had already spent their SNAP benefits. Now, that surge comes earlier in the month.
“The [SNAP] benefits just aren't reaching as far as they used to,” May said.
During the pandemic, “smart investments” by the government kept kids and families fed, Jason Gromley, senior director for Share Our Strength, an organization that works to end hunger and poverty, said in a written statement. COVID-19 pandemic relief efforts provided temporary increases to SNAP benefits, allowed schools to offer free meals to all students and expanded the child tax credit.
“Now that those investments have been rolled back, that progress is being erased, and we’re seeing the dire need to address the root causes of hunger,” he said.
While those kinds of policies can help alleviate hunger, addressing the economic factors driving food insecurity—by addressing increases in housing and cost-of-living pressures, improving employment options and addressing disparities in financial well-being—is also important, said Martinchek of the Urban Institute.
“All these can be powerful ways to really get at the root of why are families unable to meet their food needs,” she said.