New Hunger Report Shows Hunger Still a Problem; Should Spark Actions

Wednesday, July 27th, 2016

Post-recession America still has a somewhat hidden problem- hunger. Hunger is not always evident in communities or nationwide, but the Food Research and Action Center’s new report shows that “food hardship” is still a significant problem.

“Food hardship” is defined as not having enough money to buy food that you or your family needed in the past 12 months. This hardship is detrimental to physical and emotional health for all family members but especially children, seniors, and those with disabilities.

The ‘How Hungry is America?’ report, released in late June, breaks down food hardship by time (year, quarter, month) and by location (regions, states, metro areas). Nationally, hunger has been declining but remains a prevalent problem.

  • 2015 had the lowest rate of hardship in the eight years; December 2015 was the lowest month
  • Nationally 1 in 6 households still struggle with hunger
  • The rate has fallen from its highest, 19% in 2013, to a low of 16% in 2015
  • +15% of households are experiencing food hardship in:
    • 25 out of 50 states
    • 72 of 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas

Different regions of the country are experiencing food hardship more severely. 8 of the 16 hardest hit states are in the Southeast; 5 of the 16 are in the Southwest; the West, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest each have 1.

Many of the worst states have Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) follow the worst regions. The Southeast comes in with half of the worst MSAs, 11 of the 21 hardest hit MSAs; the Southwest has 5 of the 21; the West has 3 of the 21 and Bakersfield, CA was the worst MSA; 2 in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.

The report shows that hunger is still deep rooted issue and one that effects millions of Americans. Hunger is in our communities, in our neighborhoods. It effects people all backgrounds and may not be readily apparent but we can eliminate hunger by advocating for common sense policy.

Find out how you can help at vahungersolutions.org

Read FRAC’s full report at http://frac.org/pdf/food-hardship-2016.pdf

Post-recession America still has a somewhat hidden problem- hunger. Hunger is not always evident in communities or nationwide, but the Food Research and Action Center’s new report shows that “food hardship” is still a significant problem.

“Food hardship” is defined as not having enough money to buy food that you or your family needed in the past 12 months. This hardship is detrimental to physical and emotional health for all family members but especially children, seniors, and those with disabilities.

The ‘How Hungry is America?’ report, released in late June, breaks down food hardship by time (year, quarter, month) and by location (regions, states, metro areas). Nationally, hunger has been declining but remains a prevalent problem.

·       2015 had the lowest rate of hardship in the eight years; December 2015 was the lowest month

·       Nationally 1 in 6 households still struggle with hunger

·       The rate has fallen from its highest, 19% in 2013, to a low of 16% in 2015

·       +15% of households are experiencing food hardship in:

o   25 out of 50 states

o   72 of 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas

Different regions of the country are experiencing food hardship more severely. 8 of the 16 hardest hit states are in the Southeast; 5 of the 16 are in the Southwest; the West, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest each have 1.

Many of the worst states have Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) follow the worst regions. The Southeast comes in with half of the worst MSAs, 11 of the 21 hardest hit MSAs; the Southwest has 5 of the 21; the West has 3 of the 21 and Bakersfield, CA was the worst MSA; 2 in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.

The report shows that hunger is still deep rooted issue and one that effects millions of Americans. Hunger is in our communities, in our neighborhoods. It effects people all backgrounds and may not be readily apparent but we can eliminate hunger by advocating for common sense policy.

Find out how you can help at vahungersolutions.org

Read FRAC’s full report at http://frac.org/pdf/food-hardship-2016.pdf

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