1 in 10 is Still Too Many

According to new data released by USDA last week, 1 in 10 Washington households struggled to put food on their tables last year. Washington now ranks 37^th in the nation in food insecurity. The household food insecurity rate in Washington (10.3%) and nationally (11.1%) have continued the downward trend recorded over the last few years; however, progress has slowed down and we still remain more food insecure than we were before the recession in 2008.

Food insecurity is defined by USDA as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. USDA determines whether a household is experiencing low food insecurity or the more severe “very low food security” (i.e., “hunger”), based on survey respondents’ answers to questions about whether they have sufficient income and resources to consistently and adequately meet their basic nutritional needs.

When it comes to hunger, that is, when a household persistently can’t access sufficient food, Washington’s rate has barely budged: 4% of Washington households experience hunger, a rate that is far higher than our pre-recession rate of 3.5%. This suggests that despite Washington’s continued economic growth that outpaces much of the rest of the nation, our most vulnerable are falling even further behind as wages remain stagnant and resources needed to get by get cut.

The new household food insecurity numbers further back-up what we instinctively know: since hunger is driven by poverty and racial disparities, we continue to see significantly higher rates of food insecurity in households with children, in rural communities, and in Black and Hispanic households:

• The food insecurity rate for households with children is 2/5 higher than for those without children (13.9% vs. 9.9%).
• The food insecurity rate is 2.5 times higher for Black households, and twice as high for Hispanic, non-white households compared to white, non-Hispanic households.
• Food insecurity and hunger in rural communities continues to persist at higher levels than in metro areas (food insecurity for rural: 12.7% compared to 10.8% metro; hunger in rural areas is 4.8% compared to 4.2% in metro areas).

The latest data on poverty in the US was released earlier this week. Last year, more than 38 million Americans lived in poverty. The child poverty rate remained high in 2018 at 16.2%, or in other words, 1 in 6 US children lives in poverty. Real median household incomes increased but reflect stark racial disparities: the median household income for non-Hispanic, white households was 41% and 27% higher than Black and non-white, Hispanic households, respectively.

The fact remains: 1 in 10 households struggling to put food on their tables is still too many. Recent federal proposals, if implemented, will halt any further progress and deepen hunger when households can no longer count on SNAP to help them buy food. Those proposals do nothing to reduce the need for assistance to take away resources and shift more of the cost of hunger to the private sector and threaten the health of our communities. In fact, according to the latest Supplemental Poverty Measure, SNAP kept 3.1 million people out of poverty last year. Don’t let this happen: act today to speak out against the harmful USDA rule proposal to alter categorical eligibility and share resources to fight the chilling effect of the public charge rule. Systemic change is necessary to our shared work of reducing hunger in Washington.

WHAT YOU CAN DO