Public Policy

New Data on Hunger and Food Insecurity
The Food Research and Action Center reported today that newly published Census Bureau/U.S. Department of Agriculture numbers show, despite the nation's prosperity, that 31 million Americans -- 12 million children and 19 million adults -- still suffer from hunger or live on the edge of hunger.

The number is down significantly -- by 3.5 million -- from 1995, the first year the federal government collected such data. FRAC called the four-year change progress in the right direction, but disappointingly modest, given the growth in the economy.

One large group of Americans saw their food insecurity increase. The percentage of households with incomes between 50 and 130 percent of the poverty level experiencing food insecurity increased. The percentage was 27.7 in 1999, compared to 26.2 in 1995.

This confirms what a number of private and public studies have shown -- while many families are moving from welfare to work, their earnings are low and often they do not receive the food stamps for which they are eligible, leaving parents and children as vulnerable or more vulnerable to food insecurity than before.

By comparison, between 1995 and 1999, the total number of food insecure households fell by one eighth and the number with hunger fell by nearly a quarter.

"While we applaud any decrease in hunger, the report provides more confirmation that a combination of low wages and drops in Food Stamp participation are denying millions of families the basics for a decent and healthy life," said Food Research and Action Center President Jim Weill.

Weill also said the report underscores the urgent need for Congress and the Administration to act this fall to pass two key Food Stamp Program improvement bills: the Kennedy-Specter/Walsh Hunger Relief Act (S.1805, H.R. 3192), and the Graham/Coyne-Levin Food Stamp Outreach and Research for Kids Act (S. 1800, H.R. 2738). "These bills are carefully targeted to help low income working families, including those making the transition from cash assistance, escape hunger and food insecurity," said Weill.

The general strength of the economy likely is accounting for the overall decline of food insecurity since 1995 (the first year for which Census/USDA made such a measurement), while the increase in food insecurity among families with incomes below 130 percent of the poverty level in all likelihood reflects administrative barriers to food stamp participation and cuts that were made in the program. There were fewer households with incomes between 50 percent and 130 percent of poverty in 1999 compared to 1995, but those who were in this category were more likely to be food insecure.

Lynn Parker, Director of Child Nutrition at FRAC and author of FRAC studies that were predecessors to the Census/USDA study, said, "The pace of improvement in hunger is just too slow compared to the roaring economy. The persistently high levels are of particular concern because of the serious adverse health, educational and developmental consequences of hunger and food insecurity, as well as the daily emotional stress it adds to the lives of low-income families."

Other key data in the Census Bureau/USDA report included a mix of good news and bad news. Among the best news was that the number of children in food insecure households went from 12.2 million in 1995 to 10.6 million, and the number of children in hungry households dropped from 4.1 million in 1995 to 2.64 million in 1999.
Nevertheless, children are nearly twice as likely as adults to be living in hungry/food insecure households (16.9 percent of all children versus 9.5 percent of all adults).

The percent of hungry/food insecure households with elderly people went from 5 percent in 1995 to 4.8 percent in 1999. Also, hungry/food insecure households made up of elderly people living alone changed only slightly -- from 5.6 percent to 5.3 percent.

"Hunger is a wholly unnecessary evil in this country and this economy," said Weill. "While more adults than ever are working, they often are working at wages too low to support a family. They need higher, family-supporting wages, starting with a minimum wage increase, and they need supports like food stamps."

The President and Congress recognized in 1996 that food stamps would be essential to supplement the wages of low-income working families, especially those making a transition from welfare to work. But millions of families have lost food stamps over the last four years, even though they are still poor and struggling.

The most recent Food Stamp Program participation data continue to show the trend. Monthly participation in the Food Stamp Program stood at 17 million persons in June, 2000. This represented a decline of 791,755 million persons from June 1999 and 8.1 million persons from June 1996.

Government and private studies have shown that most of this decline does not reflect families escaping poverty, but rather reflects the Food Stamp Program serving a declining share of poor people. "While we welcome any improvement in the hunger numbers, clearly the nation must do more," Weill continued. "The economy is healthy and very large state and federal budget surpluses are projected. Hunger has a cure; if the nation cannot administer it now, then when will it?"

Harmful gaps in food stamp protection under current law include the increasingly inadequate benefit amounts for recipients, especially families with children which have high shelter costs; unrealistic restrictions on the value of vehicles working poor families can own to get to work and still obtain program benefits; exclusion from the program of most members of legal immigrant families and of many jobless, childless adults willing to work; and state and local practices (little information or outreach, office hours and practices that discourage working poor families) that are making it very difficult for low-income families to obtain food stamps for which they are eligible.

"As states implement new welfare laws, and wages stay low, too many people have jobs that don't pay enough to sustain a family," said Weill. "When these families lose food stamp benefits, they go hungry even while working. States must reform their systems in order to get food stamps to these eligible, hungry working families."

With this latest release, USDA food insecurity and hunger numbers are now available for the nation for each year from 1995 through 1999. State-by-state food insecurity averages for the period 1996-1998 were released in fall, 1999. Food insecurity is defined by USDA as lack of access to enough food to fully meet basic needs at all times due to lack of financial resources. Food insecure households, even when hunger is not present, are so limited in resources that they are running out of food and can't afford balanced meals. Hungry households are those in which adults have decreased the quality and quantity of food they consume because of lack of money, to the point where they are likely to be hungry on a frequent basis, or in which children's intake has been reduced due to lack of family financial resources, to the point that children are likely to be hungry on a regular basis and adults' food intake is severely reduced.