Action needed to stop household insecurity slide

In Montgomery County, 1 in 6 individuals was food insecure in 2020. In 2019, during a “normal” year, Ohio’s food pantry network served more than

1.6 million people in need across our state. On average, each needy Ohioan visited our network six times a year. The network served more than 15 million meals in 2019 through hot meal sites and shelters. Just in Montgomery County, The Foodbank Inc. provided more than 13.8 million pounds of takehome groceries to more than 156,000 households last year. In the past two years, the pandemic has continued to exacerbate these numbers as families continue to struggle.

Along with many anti-poverty advocates, we were hopeful that the Build Back Better

Act would bring about a much-needed investment in our nation’s social safety net. The legislation would have included permanent improvements to programs that help us make sure kids are well-fed and codified the advance, expanded monthly Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments as a lasting commitment to investing in basic dignity and security for families.

And though we remain hopeful that Congress will recognize and support the short- and long-term value of those policies, our foodbanks and the Ohioans we serve are coping with the here and now.

Not only has the cost of basic household expenses, like food, housing and gas significantly gone up across the board, critical lifelines for the needy have or are soon going to come to an end. For example:

The last monthly expanded CTC payments came in December, and 10 million American children have since fallen back into poverty.

Federal requirements for paid sick leave expired at the end of 2020, and tax credits incentivizing employers to offer paid sick leave expired in September, before two new variants of the virus began spreading.

The pause on student loan repayments is set to expire May 1.

The end of the federal Public Health Emergency will mean reduced nutrition assistance.

For two years now, Ohio’s foodbanks have been on the frontlines of an unpredictable and evolving crisis. We no longer have the same level of volunteer support as we did before. Transportation costs to move food into our warehouses and out across Ohio are much higher. And with the lowest levels of donated products from retailers and manufacturers this century, food itself is harder to find and more costly.

We cannot keep up at this rate, especially with pandemic-related supports for families ended or soon to end. To survive, we need more support from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to put wholesome, staple foods on our shelves. We join Feeding America and our peers across the country in urging Congress to include an additional $900 million in TEFAP in the upcoming spending package.

We also need Ohio’s leaders to recognize that our hunger relief network is so much more than somewhere people turn to in emergencies.