Jan 21, 2022
Editor’s Note: Underserved and marginalized communities continue to suffer disproportionately at the hands of the Covid-19 pandemic. Homelessness, joblessness, food insecurity, and hunger continue to plague the nation. Ensuring that NYC residents have enough food on their plate remains a challenge. We need more and better Federal Assistance Programs, and we need to step up and better support these populations by working together to break down barriers surrounding access to healthier and more nutritious foods.
CONTENT SOURCED FROM THE HUNTER COLLEGE NYC FOOD POLICY CENTER
“Where is my next meal coming from?” It’s a question that more than a million New Yorkers asked themselves before the pandemic, are asking themselves today, and will, unfortunately, be asking themselves tomorrow. It’s a question no one should ever need to ask in one of the world’s wealthiest cities. Healthy food is a basic human right, and no New Yorker should ever have to experience hunger and not know where their next meal is coming from.
Defining Hunger and Food Insecurity
Before examining how hunger and food insecurity are afflicting New York City residents, it is important to understand the distinction between the two concepts.
The USDA defines food insecurity as the “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways,” and adds that food-insecure households report three specific conditions:
Worrying whether their food will run out before they are able to buy more
The food they bought didn’t last and they didn’t have money to get more
They can’t afford to eat balanced meals.
This is different from hunger, which can be a consequence of food insecurity and refers to a physiological sensation, as opposed to an economic and/or social situation. Individuals who are experiencing hunger may be experiencing food insecurity as well; however, hunger can result from missing a meal or meals for reasons other than food insecurity.
While the definition of food insecurity may be clear to academics, politicians and government staffers, a study reported by this Center in 2018 demonstrated that, even among New Yorkers who are food insecure, many struggle to define what that actually means — in fact more than two thirds of those surveyed were unable to define food insecurity.
Why is this significant? Because, in order to design appropriate interventions with successful outcomes for the diverse populations we are trying to serve, everyone involved must have the same understanding of the terminology and problem. The existing differences in understanding (or lack thereof), especially among those who are food insecure, suggest the need for a greater emphasis on food-policy education, including the establishment of commonly accepted terminology.
Hunger and Food Insecurity in NYC
Food insecurity is a public health crisis across America, and New York City (NYC) is no exception.
Hunger and food insecurity are pervasive throughout NYC, impacting more than a million New Yorkers even before the COVID-19 pandemic reached the city. Now, while vaccination rates climb and city life returns, hunger and food insecurity remain critical issues for many households across the five boroughs. Furthermore, hunger, food insecurity, and poor access to healthy food disproportionately impact underserved communities of color.
Hunger and food insecurity can have devastating effects on an individual’s health. Lack of access to healthy foods can lead to nutrient-deficient diets that might cause diet-related diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. Poor health related to hunger and food insecurity can also impact COVID-19 outcomes, increasing the risk of hospitalization and death from the disease.
Households with children are known to have higher rates of hunger and food insecurity than those without. Hunger and food insecurity have a negative impact on the well-being of children, potentially leading to long-term behavioral and psychological problems as well as chronic illness. No child should be hungry or food insecure and no parents should have to choose between feeding themselves and feeding their children. Since the 2017-2018 school year, public schools in NYC have provided free lunch to all students regardless of income, a policy that is known to have had a positive effect on student well-being and performance.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Hunger and Food Insecurity in NYC
The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the food system in New York City. NYC worked quickly and aggressively to address the increase in food insecurity brought on by the pandemic, but many City agencies struggled to adapt and expand their food-provision programs to meet specific cultural or dietary needs. And many of the solutions spearheaded by the City government were not designed to continue indefinitely. Now, more than a year into the pandemic, the City is still struggling to reduce food insecurity, hunger, and diet-related diseases.
While clearly acknowledging the extent of the City’s food insecurity and hunger problems, officials have been unwilling to provide transparency and information that would allow us to determine what lessons have been learned, and whether officials enlisted the partnership of knowledgeable neighborhood organizations.
Our aim cannot be to return to the pre-pandemic normal, as that would still leave approximately 1.2 million people hungry and food insecure. In order to eliminate hunger in NYC, we need long-term solutions to ensure that all New Yorkers have access to healthy, nutritious meals at home, at school, and at work.
At this moment, it remains difficult to determine how many New Yorkers are experiencing food insecurity because extensive surveys and studies have not yet been completed. But we do know that the number of people experiencing food insecurity and hunger in the City nearly doubled during the pandemic, from 1.2 million to estimates between 1.5 and 2 million people, and the diet quality for many New Yorkers decreased. And a survey of mothers with young children done in April 2020 indicated that nearly one in five stated that the children were not eating enough.
Programs that existed before the pandemic were ill-equipped to handle this massive increase in demand. Reports from food pantries and other emergency food providers suggest that funding and food supplies may not have been adequate to cover their needs. Three out of four food pantries and soup kitchens saw an increase in the total number of visitors compared to year before, including a 71 percent increase in undocumented immigrant clients. And two of the largest emergency feeding programs, City Harvest and Food Bank For New York City, have reported significant strain on their systems.
Unemployment rates skyrocketed in the first months of the pandemic, and through 2020 the City lost more than 600,000 jobs. The unemployment rate in NYC has reduced significantly since then, but as of May 2021 9.8 percent of New Yorkers were still unemployed, which is higher than the national average of 5.8 percent. Unemployment and poverty are frequently tied to hunger and food insecurity, as they can lead to difficulty affording enough food for everyone in a household. Furthermore, declining unemployment rates do not always lead to decreased hunger and food insecurity, as many working individuals and families still have trouble affording enough food, particularly food that is high in nutritional value.
Government funding (from federal, state and local governments) was quickly poured into the NYC food system to feed hungry residents, but at times it was still not enough to get every single person an appropriate amount and variety of food, causing problems for some government-led food delivery initiatives, including GetFoodNYC. Food was delivered to incorrect addresses and there were complaints about foods being spoiled, unhealthy, or not culturally appropriate. These complaints are not new — food pantries and community members have historically experienced the sentiment from emergency food providers that individuals in need should take what they get and should not get upset, which is morally reprehensible.
During the pandemic, many community organizations and individuals pivoted to focus more on connecting those in need with food resources in their neighborhoods, filling in gaps. Faith-based organizations, community centers, restaurants, and nonprofits became hubs for food and meal distribution. Unfortunately, residents sometimes waited in lines for hours to receive kitchen staples such as rice and canned goods and many people struggled to get by on diets lacking in protein and other fresh foods. While the work done by these organizations was impressive and necessary, many did not have the resources required to meet the needs of all residents. Furthermore, emergency food relief is not a long-term solution to the hunger and food insecurity crisis, and New Yorkers cannot permanently depend on emergency programs to keep themselves fed. Emergency food should be just that — food provided during an emergency. It should not be a system that New Yorkers in need have to rely on every day for food. We need increased SNAP benefits, livable wages, and creative solutions from our local government to ensure all New Yorkers have agency and access to nutritious food.
