New data show 16.4 percent of Ohio households struggling with hunger

OASHF Urges Congress to Protect Federal Nutrition Programs during Deficit Negotiations

COLUMBUS-- One in six households in Ohio struggled with hunger on average in the years 2008-2010, according to new data released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its annual report on food insecurity. Nationally, more than 48.8 million people (16.1%) lived in households that were food insecure in 2010 –up from 36.2 million in 2007. In 2010, nationally, 32.6 million adults and 16.2 million children faced a daily risk of hunger.

The Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks (OASHF) noted that the Ohio number released today covers the three years during the heart of the recession. The rate is well above the 12.6 percent for the years 2003 to 2005, demonstrating the downturn’s depth and impact on Ohio.

Among the 16.4 percent of households in Ohio considered to be food insecure during the 2008-2010 period, 6.6 percent were considered to have “very low food security.” People that fall into this USDA category had more severe problems, experiencing deeper hunger and cutting back or skipping meals on a more frequent basis for both adults and children. From 2003 to 2005 the percentage of Ohioans considered to have “very low food security” was 3.8 percent.

“We continue to see evidence of the struggles facing too many people in our state. Congress must support job creation while protecting the federal nutrition programs and other parts of our nation’s safety net against deficit cutting measures,” said OASHF executive director, Lisa Hamler-Fugitt. “Weakening these programs would cause irreparable harm to low-income people in Ohio and across the nation.”

The number of Ohioans in need of help and turning to Ohio’s emergency food assistance network, comprised of Ohio’s 12 Feeding America foodbanks and their more than 3,300 member agencies is viewed as a sign of the pain being felt throughout Ohio by slow turnaround of our nation’s economy. Over the last three months, nearly two million Ohioans were served throughout the emergency food pantries, with 35 percent of those being children and 14 percent being adults over the age of 60, members of our greatest generation.

At the same time, as of June 2011, 15.3 percent of all Ohioans were in receipt of SNAP/Food Assistance formally known as Food Stamps, a 64.5 percent increase since June 2006. Over the course of the last five years, Ohioans have been left to cope with the loss of employment, increasing wage stagnation and a slow economic recovery, felt both in Ohio and across the nation.

“With more than 1.767 million of Ohio’s total population of 11.542 million residents in receipt of SNAP/ Food Assistance as of June 2011, programs that are available to help in a person’s time of need are working and need to continue. Millions of Americans continue to struggle to put food on the table. It is time to strengthen, not weaken the nation’s safety net,” said Hamler-Fugitt. “There’s a reason that every bipartisan deficit reduction plan proposed over the past year – including those from Simpson-Bowles Commission and the Gang of Six – has made sure to keep these programs intact and protected from cuts.”

About the USDA Report
Since 1995, the United States Department of Agriculture, using data from surveys conducted annually by the Census Bureau, has released estimates of the number of people in households that are food insecure. Food insecure households are those that are not able to afford an adequate diet at all times in the past 12 months. The report also includes food insecurity rates for each state, but for states it uses three-year averages to give a better estimate of the number of households experiencing food insecurity. Experts agree that the Census/USDA measure of food insecurity is a conservative one, with the result that only households experiencing substantial food insecurity are so classified.

Older Ohioans struggle with hunger at alarming rate

A new report, “Food Insecurity Among Older Adults, released this week by the AARP Foundation in partnership with the University Kentucky, examines hunger risk for older adults.

According to the study, hunger for this population - jumped almost 80 percent since 2001, with more than 9 percent of older Americans considered at risk for hunger in 2009. Ohio ranks 10th in the nation for the percentage of those ages 50 to 59 at risk of hunger (10.41 percent).

"Food Insecurity Among Older Adults" is the first report to examine the youngest of the baby boomers -- those between the ages of 50 and 59. This group faces the unusual challenge of being too young for Social Security and Medicare and too old for aid that's allotted for people with children. The slumping economy has played a major role in the spike, as employment for this population is harder to secure. In 2009, 4.9 million in this age group were at risk for hunger, a 38 percent increase from two years earlier. The report also found that food insecurity has a negative impact on broader health outcomes, limiting this group’s ability to function independently by increasing the aging process an average of 14 years.

“Older Ohioans are facing unprecedented barriers in their lives,” said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, OASHF executive director.

“At a time when older Ohioans should be able to contribute to the workforce or enjoy the rewards of a long life of work, they are instead struggling to find where their next meal is coming from. We must do all that we can to ensure programs, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Food Stamps (SNAP), Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), and the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) are strengthened as more and more Ohioans, of all ages and widening income brackets, find themselves in need.”

Programs that provide emergency food for older Ohioans, like many other safety net programs, are at risk of reduced funding as the federal budget is examined and the Special Joint Committee to Congress looks at reshaping the nation’s spending.

“We cannot afford to let our hungry go without. The cost on our society if we do not invest money today in emergency food programs such as TEFAP, CSFP, and EFSP will be measured in skyrocketing future healthcare costs,” said Hamler-Fugitt.

Though the risk is on the rise, this is the first year in his administration that President Obama failed to propose additional funding for nutrition programs for older Americans.
Learn more and view the entire “Food Insecurity Among Older Americans” study: www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/aarp_foundation/pdf_2011/AARPFoundation_HungerReport_2011.pdf