Older Ohioans rationing food to survive need lawmaker’s help

Throughout the public health emergency and its economic fallout, Ohioans have been faced with unreliable access to everything from toilet paper to infant formula.

Mounting supply chain and inflationary pressure, exacerbated by everything from the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on global food supplies to the escalating destruction that climate change is already inflicting on agriculture yields, have made some food and essential non-food items scarce.

Food banks and other providers continue urging additional investments as they face a complex crisis that will hit our most vulnerable the hardest: older adults.

Several temporary programs were created earlier in the pandemic that were undoubtedly transformative for families with children, especially programs like Pandemic EBT, which provided funds for missed schoolbased meals due to pandemic-related school closures, and the advance, expanded child tax credit payments that reduced hunger and hardship and should be made permanent policy. The policy that has arguably offered the most help to older adults and people living with disabilities is enhanced Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, which have provided an average of $80 per Ohioan, per month in additional food benefits throughout the pandemic – and more to older adults living on fixed incomes.

Rising demand for help with food among older Ohioans has been a longstanding, persistent trend. From 2011 to 2021, visits to food pantries by Ohioans over 60 increased by 107%. For comparison, overall visits to food pantries increased by a more modest, yet still troubling, 30.5%. Older adults now make up nearly a quarter of all visits to food pantries statewide.

We recently spoke with older Ohioans participating in SNAP across the state about what federally funded enhanced SNAP benefits have meant for their food security and overall health and well-being. One Athens County man supporting his diabetic wife, teenage son and two young grandchildren on a modest pension will lose $500 per month in SNAP when enhanced benefits end. Before SNAP emergency allotments, his household rationed food, skipped meals and relied on foodbanks.

A disabled woman from Mahoning County shared how frightened she is to lose $180 per month in SNAP because she won’t be able to buy enough food to eat.

An 84-year-old from Summit County living on $841 per month told us how her extra $100 in monthly SNAP benefits improved her anxiety. We heard story after story about the dramatic impact these enhanced benefits had on older Ohioans and their physical and mental health.

Unfortunately, we also heard how confusing it can be to get and maintain access to benefits like SNAP. One area of good news is that the Elderly and Disabled Simplified Application Project approved by the Ohio General Assembly in the last biennial budget was recently approved by USDA and will go live in Ohio in July.

This five-year waiver will extend certification periods for older adults and disabled individuals with no earned income and streamline the application and renewal process, reducing workloads for county offices and providing longer-term peace of mind for Ohioans living on limited, fixed incomes.

This Older Americans Month, we urge lawmakers to acknowledge the demographic shifts well underway in states like Ohio and continue to build public policy improvements and investments to support older adults as they strive to age in place with dignity and security.

Every Ohioan deserves to feel well-nourished and to have their basic needs met, from their first year of life to their twilight years.

Hope Lane is health equity fellow for The Center for Community Solutions. Joree Novotny is director of external affairs for the Ohio Association of Foodbanks. They are co-chairing the Nutrition Subcommittee of Advocates for Ohio’s Future’s COVID Recovery Coalition.