Study: Nearly 1 in 10 New Yorkers will experience food insufficiency in 2022

NEW YORK – When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, the world went into lockdown due to the public health emergency, leading to increased unemployment and food insecurity as a direct result.

The increase in food insufficiency was just one of the impacts of the pandemic. In an attempt to curb this growing problem, emergency federal programs – such as stimulus payments and emergency Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) grants, as well as universal free school meals (despite the fact that schools were far away), and the Child Tax Credit – helped solve, albeit briefly, the problem. However, after the pandemic emerged, many of these programs came to an end.

However, inflation has created another burden for many as demand in New York State pantries continues to rise due to rising food prices.

With this in mind, the NY Health Foundation (New York Health Foundation), an organization that describes itself as committed to improving “the health of all New Yorkers, especially people of color and other historically underserved people,” investigated food insufficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic. 19 (2020-2022) in New York State.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, food insufficiency is described as “households, at times, unable to purchase adequate food for one or more household members because the household did not have enough money and other sources of food”. in the last seven days. This differs from food insecurity, which is defined as a household unable to afford adequate food because it did not have enough money and other resources to feed itself, usually for a period of 12 months or 30 days.

Among the key findings of the NY Health Foundation study, which was released Tuesday, is that last year nearly 1 in 10 New Yorkers, or 9.7%, reported dietary insufficiency, an increase by compared to 2021 where 8.6%, or 1 in 12 New Yorkers, reported suffering from food insufficiency. In 2020, the overall reported food insufficiency among New York households was 10.2%.

Moreover, according to the study, households with children experienced a dramatic increase in food insufficiency more than households without children. The study found that food insecurity doubled in households with children from 2021 to 2022. Last year, 1 in 8 (12.7%) households with children experienced food insufficiency.

Dietary insufficiency also increased by more than 30% among New Yorkers 65 and older between 2021 and 2022, according to findings from the NY Health Foundation.

Households in the middle income groups have also experienced an increase in food insufficiency. However, due to income level, many of these households are not eligible for emergency government programs, such as reduced price school meals.

Additionally, according to the study, dietary insufficiency also affected African American and Hispanic New Yorkers at twice the rates (17.5% and 17.0%, respectively) of white New Yorkers. (7.1%). However, across all races and ethnicities, food insufficiency increased the most among Asian (41.3%) and African American (16.7%) New Yorkers between 2021 and 2022.

Based on the results of their study, the NY Health Foundation has also issued policy recommendations to state and federal governments to alleviate food insecurity. Among the recommendations are:

• Free healthy school meals for all students;
• Continue SNAP emergency benefits;
• Dissemination of food and nutrition programs;
• Adequate funding for emergency food programs, such as the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program;
• Increase access to food through online shopping, as transportation is often a factor for people facing food insufficiency and food insecurity. However, food delivery costs are also a deterrent, so part of the recommendation is that state, local, and federal agencies team up to offset the cost of door-to-door deliveries;
• Promote “Food is Medicine” programs, which include foods medically designed to improve health.

To read the full study, click here.