Food insecurity is rising in Washington, new report shows
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The number of Americans who couldn't reliably afford to eat is rising, both in Washington state and around the country, according to new government data.
Why it matters: The economy might've looked great in 2022 by some metrics, like the low unemployment rate, but not this one.
- With rising food costs and the disappearance of pandemic-era benefits that lowered food insecurity in 2021, food insecurity appears to be rebounding.
Zoom in: Across Washington, an average of 8.3% of households were living with food insecurity between 2020 and 2022, compared to 7.9% from 2019 to 2021.
- Before the pandemic, Seattle-based Food Lifeline was serving up to 700,000 people in the region annually, spokesperson Mark Coleman said.
- But that number swelled during the pandemic to 1.1 million and has since grown to a staggering 1.6 million, Coleman said.
- "Rising food costs since the pandemic is currently one of the biggest drivers of food insecurity in Western Washington," Coleman said.
Zoom out: Nationally, the share of households that couldn't reliably afford food rose from 10.2% in 2021 to 12.8% in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's economic research service.
- Among households with children, 17.3% are food-insecure, up nearly 5 percentage points from the previous year. The last time that number was higher was in 2014.
What they're saying: "If you don't pay the rent or your mortgage, you don't have a place to live. If you don't put gas in the car, you can't get to work," said Lisa Davis, a senior vice president at Share Our Strength, an anti-poverty nonprofit. "Food is the place that folks turn when they have to tighten the belt even more."
What to watch: Some members of Congress are looking to make further cuts to food benefits; that happened last time lawmakers and the president brokered a deal to keep the government running.