SALT LAKE CITY -- As Congress debates a new coronavirus stimulus bill, more people in Utah are facing food insecurity as the economy struggles with the effects of the pandemic.

Groups that offer social services say some families who were previously able to provide healthy meals will see a double whammy at the end of this week. That's when the enhanced federal unemployment assistance is set to expire, leaving many households unable to pay rent.

Gina Cornia, executive director of Utahns Against Hunger, said the number of families needing food assistance has already grown rapidly.

"In February, our food security was about 8.2%," Cornia said. "Fewer than one in 10 Utah households were experiencing food insecurity. Between April and June, that jumped up to 17.4%."

She said demand for SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, has remained steady since March, although food banks and similar charities have reported a spike in demand. She worries that could soon get worse.

During the pandemic, Cornia added, food insecurity among Utah's Black and Latino children has increased to more than 30%.

"Not only are communities of color in Utah being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, but they're also bearing a disproportionate amount of food insecurity," Cornia said.

Deborah Weinstein, executive director for the nonprofit Coalition on Human Needs, said Congress needs to act quickly before federal unemployment benefits and the eviction moratorium both run out.

"We have not experienced anything like this for a hundred years," Weinstein said. "We've got a stubborn disease that is keeping our economy from functioning the way it should. We cannot let our families suffer in this way. The consequences to children are so grave."

Weinstein also is calling for an additional $1 trillion in aid to state and local governments to avoid funding cuts to critical health, education and social service programs.

While affordable housing advocates across the state have been cheering on Washington's rent stabilization bill in Olympia, so have organizations fighting hunger in the state.

Claire Lane, director of the Anti-Hunger and Nutrition Coalition, stands behind the bill, which would limit yearly rent increases to 7%. Lane said her coalition partners with housing advocates because if someone is housing insecure, they are also likely to be food insecure.

"Really, the most important thing to take away from that is, we're not going to be able to solve hunger in Washington until we can ensure that people have more stable, more affordable housing," she explained.

Washington's rent stabilization bill has passed the House and is now in the Senate. Votes for the bill have largely been along party lines, with Republicans arguing it will result in less housing and higher rents.

Along with capping increases, the rent stabilization bill would require landlords to give tenants six months' notice for significant rent increases. Lane explained that having more time is key to supporting people having enough food, and added if a family only has two months to move because of a rent hike, they will prioritize paying for housing over food.

"And that's where you start cutting back on your groceries. That's where you start skipping dinner or you start skipping breakfast," she continued.

Lane pointed to new data from the University of Washington focused on lower income households, showing more than half of participants experience food insecurity, and said the data show food insecurity in the state is widespread, especially in communities of color.

"Seventy percent of Hispanic respondents, compared to 54% of non-Hispanic respondents, experience food insecurity. Those are huge numbers no matter how you look at it, but the disparity is obvious," she contended.

Democrats are confident the rent stabilization bill will pass this year, with some tweaks in the wording.


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Children's advocates are crying foul after House Republicans called for $12 billion in cuts to school meal programs, including the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows high-poverty school districts to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students regardless of their ability to pay.

Erin Hysom, senior policy analyst at the Food Research and Action Center, said the funds are an important public investment and no child can learn on an empty stomach.

"We hear from teachers all the time that when schools offer healthy school meals for all, behavior in the classroom improves," Hysom reported. "Their academics improve and they're able to graduate and become more productive members of society."

Some 557 Colorado schools serving more than 206,000 students are projected to be affected. The proposed cuts are part of a sweeping effort by Republicans to eliminate waste and inefficiency in the federal budget in order to pay for extending President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts and other policy priorities, including mass deportations.

Hysom noted the Community Eligibility Provision has already reduced inefficiency and red tape, and cuts would send school nutrition directors away from kitchens and back to their desks to deal with unnecessary paperwork. She added the move would also affect farm-to-school initiatives putting money directly into the pockets of local farms and ranches.

"They're able to meet with local agricultural producers and bring in local products that not only improve the nutrition of the meal but also support the local economy," Hysom explained.

Cuts to federal nutrition funding would certainly not help Colorado's Healthy School Meals for All initiative, passed by voters in 2022. The popular program is competing with other priorities as the state grapples with a $1.2 billion budget shortfall.

Hysom worries the cuts could also mean the return of lunch line shaming.

"It really creates this stigma in the cafeteria," Hysom contended. "When we offer school meals to all children at no charge, it reduces that stigma."


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Organizations working to fight food insecurity across Arkansas support two bills before state legislators.

The Grocery Tax Relief Act would repeal the state grocery tax and the Good Neighbor Act would expand protections for food donors and food banks.

Brian Burton, CEO of Arkansas Foodbank, said several recent bills passed by lawmakers have helped Arkansans who cannot afford food.

"Expanding school lunch programs and raising the asset limit on SNAP Benefits," Burton outlined. "And in the current session they passed the universal Free School Breakfast bill."

Arkansas is one of only 10 states in the country with a grocery tax. It generates approximately $10 million a year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has ranked Arkansas number one for food insecurity for the last two years. If the bills are passed, they will go into effect in January 2026.

Burton noted they are monitoring possible changes in federal funding because of cuts by the Trump Administration.

"When they talk about cutting the federal budget, they are hurting low-resource states like Arkansas because we are very dependent on all the myriads of federal government programs," Burton pointed out. "Some of which have been funded for decades."

Nearly 11,000 more Arkansans are struggling to make ends meet than in 2022. It's estimated nearly 47% of Arkansas households are living paycheck to paycheck. Burton stressed those residents will be affected the most by any changes.

"Programs like SNAP and WIC, the Farm bill, these are mission-critical and central to the fight against food insecurity," Burton contended. "In fact, 80% of food insecurity is solved through some form of federal nutrition program."


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