1 Out Of 10 NY Households Suffer From Food Insecurity: NYS Comptroller

NEW YORK — A staggering number of New Yorkers are in danger of going to bed hungry at night, according to a just released report from the state's comptroller.

According to the report from New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, released on Wednesday, approximately one in ten, or about 800,000 New York households, experienced food insecurity at some point between 2019 - 2021.

And DiNapoli said the problem may be getting worse.

"Federal aid helped New Yorkers put food on the table during the pandemic, but some relief programs are ending as inflation and other pressures are pushing household budgets to their limit," DiNapoli said. "With all the challenges people are facing during these difficult times, we should ensure New Yorkers don’t go hungry. Our nation’s nutrition programs should be expanded to help those who are struggling to feed themselves and their families."

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), a household is defined as suffering from food insecurity when it cannot, at times, access adequate food for everyone in the home due to a lack of resources. The USDA reported 32.1 percent of households with annual incomes below the official poverty line were food insecure in 2021. The organization found that national rates of food insecurity were highest for households headed by single mothers (24.3 percent), as well as households headed by African Americans (19.8 percent) and Hispanics (16.2 percent) in 2021.

For the 2019-2021 period, New York’s rate of food insecurity was 10.3 percent, slightly lower than the U.S. average of 10.4 percent, according to the study. New York’s rate of food insecurity is 4.1 percentage points lower than the peak of 14.4 percent reported in the 2012-2014 period.

Food insecurity in New York, and nationally, continued trending downward even through the COVID pandemic due to federal policy actions. These actions enhanced income – including three rounds of economic impact payments and the temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit in 2021 and increased assistance available through federal nutrition programs, including SNAP and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

However, DiNapoli warns that this downward trend may reverse as federal relief programs lapse and food prices continue to rise. Overall food prices are significantly higher since spring 2021, increasing 10.4 percent nationally and 8.6 percent in the New York metro area from December 2021 to December 2022.

U.S. Census survey data indicate an increasing number of New Yorkers are reporting they sometimes or often did not have enough food to eat ("food insufficiency"). In the summer of 2021, 7.3 percent of New Yorkers reported food insufficiency, with higher rates in households with children. By November 2022, food insufficiency grew to 10.8 percent of New Yorkers and rates for households with children increased to 13.4 percent.

DiNapoli found that the true scope of the problem might not even be fully understood and isn't shared across all demographics.

Over the last two years, Black and Hispanic or Latino adult New Yorkers were more likely to report food insufficiency than both white adult New Yorkers and adult New Yorkers overall. From 2021 to November 2022, the percentage of adults experiencing food insufficiency increased from 21 percent to 22.7 percent for Hispanic or Latino New Yorkers, and 17.2 percent to 21.9 percent for African American New Yorkers, according to the comptroller's study.

"Food insecurity knows no bounds, whether someone lives in New York City or in remote rural areas of our state," New York Farm Bureau President David Fisher said. "It's imperative we have a strong food system that widens access to fresh, local food. This includes continued support for the Nourish NY and the HPNAP programs that benefit people in need and the state's family farms. New York Farm Bureau thanks State Comptroller DiNapoli for highlighting the issue and his support for New York agriculture."

DiNapoli's report outlined a series of recommendations:

• Renew the Federal Child Tax Credit Expansion. Recipients of the federal enhanced Child Tax Credit reported greater declines in food insecurity than non-recipients, underscoring the interrelatedness of social safety net policies.
• Implement the White House Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. The White House has a goal of cutting food insecurity by half and virtually eliminating the number of U.S. households experiencing hunger by 2030. The strategy calls for efforts to improve food access and affordability, ease access to benefits, prioritize nutrition and strengthen federal assistance programs.
• Expand SNAP and WIC. The federal government should extend temporary benefits for SNAP, WIC and school meal programs until inflation’s impact on food costs subsides and raise the eligibility levels for SNAP and WIC to at least 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
• Improve Outreach and Access. State agencies should conduct outreach to increase participation in SNAP and WIC and make it easier to apply and recertify.
• Promote State Nutritional Programs. Support for programs such as Nourish New York, which connects New York agricultural products with food banks, should be continued.
• Pursue Innovative Approaches. The state and federal government should address the factors that contribute to food and nutrition insecurity, including expansion of medically tailored meals provided by Medicaid, subsidizing the costs of online food delivery, and incentives to bring grocery stores and healthy food to food deserts.

Those fighting to end hunger said that efforts will take the full cooperation of of the state, local and local government.

"State Comptroller DiNapoli rightly calls for increasing participation in SNAP and other programs," AARP New York State Director Beth Finkel said. "AARP New York is calling on the Governor to require ‘data matching’ between the Department of Health and the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance to help ensure New Yorkers enrolled in some benefits programs are automatically enrolled in others for which they qualify, including SNAP, utility and energy assistance programs and the newly expanded Medicare Savings Program (MSP). Increasing enrollment in MSP could offset the expiration of pandemic SNAP benefits by reducing qualifying Medicare beneficiaries’ premiums and prescription drug costs by over $7,000 a year each on average – while data matching would drive an additional $2.5 billion in federal assistance to New Yorkers."

The good news is that even though federal programs are starting to dry up, there are still programs in place to help.

"State Comptroller DiNapoli’s statement 'we should ensure New Yorkers don’t go hungry' is both a summary of the issue as well as a call to action," United Way of New York State President Hugh Parry said. "Nutrition programs are ending, and food prices are increasing which combine to endanger the vulnerable, both old and young. United Way of New York State commends the recommendations State Comptroller DiNapoli advances to address food insecurity. The system of United Ways throughout New York will continue their work at the community level to address hunger while the information and referral network, accessed by dialing the three-digit number 211, will direct people to help."

Patch has partnered with Feeding America since 2020 to help raise awareness in our local communities of hunger, a persistent national problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks and 60,000 local meals programs across the country, estimates that nearly 34 million people, including 9 million children — about 1 in 6 Americans — are living with food insecurity. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.