Media Contact:

Jordan Baker                                                                       jbaker@frac.org202-640-1118

Statement Attributable to Crystal FitzSimons, Interim President, Food Research & Action Center (FRAC)

WASHINGTON, September 4, 2024 — FRAC is deeply concerned that a growing number of families in America struggle to put food on the table. The latest Household Food Security report released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service confirms FRAC’s ongoing warning: Without greater investments in anti-poverty and anti-hunger programs, hunger in this country will continue to climb.

The report reveals that 47.4 million people lived in households experiencing food insecurity last year, an increase of 3.2 million compared to 2022, and 13.5 million compared to 2021. This spike was likely largely driven by inflation and the rollback of critical COVID-19 pandemic relief efforts that provided temporary boosts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, allowed schools to offer school meals to all their students at no charge, and expanded the Child Tax Credit. Policymakers must return to and build on these proven interventions so that all households may thrive.

Overall, the report reveals that about one in seven households (13.5 percent) in America struggled with hunger in 2023. The data also further illustrate how certain households are disproportionately at risk of having to choose between food and other basic necessities.

  • 13.8 million children lived in households that experienced food insecurity, up 3.2 percent from 2022.
  • 34.7 percent of single-parent households headed by women experienced food insecurity.
  • Rates of food insecurity were higher for Black (23.3 percent) and Latinx (21.9 percent) households, both more than double the rate of White non-Latinx households (9.9 percent).
  • Households in the Southern region continued to experience higher rates of food insecurity than any other U.S. region, with 14.7 percent of households experiencing food insecurity in 2023.
  • A higher portion of households in urban areas (15.9 percent) and rural areas (15.4 percent) experienced food insecurity compared to suburbs (11.7 percent).
  • 33.5 percent of households with reported incomes below 185 percent of the poverty threshold experienced food insecurity in 2023.

Food insecurity in the United States would be even worse without federal nutrition programs and initiatives aimed at addressing poverty.

SNAP is our nation’s first line of defense against hunger, but the benefit levels are too low. The 2021 adjustment to the Thrifty Food Plan, which is used to determine SNAP benefits, was an important step in increasing benefit levels, providing more resources to participants to purchase the food they need. Yet, despite an increase in food insecurity nationwide, rather than invest more in SNAP, several lawmakers seek to cut nearly $30 billion in SNAP benefits over 10 years by restricting future Thrifty Food Plan benefit adjustments. This is why FRAC and more than 1,400 national, state, and local organizations signed a letter urging Congress to strengthen SNAP benefits and protect SNAP from any cuts in the Farm Bill or any other legislative vehicles moving forward.

Congress also should make free Healthy School Meals for All available to all students, reinstating the policy that was so successful during the pandemic and following in the footsteps of the eight states that have passed Healthy School Meals for All policies.

In addition to investing in the proven federal nutrition programs, Congress must pass a permanent expanded and inclusive Child Tax Credit to create a more prosperous, nourished, and equitable nation. The country must also tackle the root causes and structural racism and other forms of discrimination that exacerbate hunger. By advancing policies that ensure fair wages, and improve access to affordable housing, health care, and disability benefits, our lawmakers can help break the cycle of poverty and hunger.

We have the tools needed to end hunger. It’s time to wield them and finally make hunger in America a thing of the past.

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The Food Research & Action Center improves the nutrition, health, and well-being of people struggling against poverty-related hunger in the United States through advocacy, partnerships, and by advancing bold and equitable policy solutions. To learn more, visit FRAC.org and follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram.