Hunger Grows Rapidly in Northeast Iowa
Iowa Fiscal Partnership
New study shows demand at Waterloo food bank has almost doubled in the last four years
WATERLOO, Iowa
— One in 11 Iowans is “food insecure,” creating a demand for food
assistance that government alone does not meet and that will present
new challenges for nonprofit organizations if Congress cuts federal
help, a new report illustrates.
The
report, “Hunger in the Heartland,” examines demand for food assistance
at food pantries served by the Northeast Iowa Food Bank in Waterloo.
The nonpartisan Iowa Fiscal Partnership (IFP) released the report Monday as food providers prepared for Tuesday’s observance of National Hunger Awareness Day.
“Alongside
government programs, these pantries are the front line in the battle
against hunger. This battle exists even in the agricultural abundance
of America’s heartland,” said Maureen Berner, a University of Northern
Iowa political science professor who conducted the study for the
nonpartisan IFP.
Noting
that government and nonprofits have shared the duty of helping
America’s hungry over the past 40 years, her report found stable or
increasing demand for help from nonprofits, and a need for both
short-term and long-term help for Northeast Iowa families.
Berner’s
report noted over 9 percent of Iowans were “food insecure,” lacking
access to sufficient food at all times, while 3 percent were “hungry,”
a recurrent lack of access that could lead to malnutrition. She
also noted that more than 100,000 Iowa children and 100,000 Iowa adults
receive government food assistance each year, and that nonprofit food
banks serving Iowans distributed over 10 million pounds of food in the
past year. Berner surveyed about 1,200 clients receiving help from July
through mid-April at the Cedar Valley Food Pantry in Waterloo, where
demand has nearly doubled in four years. Of those responding:
• One in four was employed.
• One in four received Social Security benefits.
• Four in 10 received Food Stamps.
• One in five sought help at the time of an unexpected household expense.
• Three in 10 seeking emergency assistance had just lost a job.
Many
clients also cited financial pressures for their families besides
putting food on the table. Shelter costs topped the list for both
emergency and more frequent pantry clients – the majority of whom rent
their living space – almost half citing rent or mortgage costs and 4 in
10 citing utility bills. Prescription costs were cited by almost 1 in 4
and medical bills by almost 1 in 5.
“Many
Iowa families face multiple financial pressures, and the hungry will
not go away,” Berner said. “If Food Stamps or other government food
assistance is cut, local nonprofits inevitably would be given a bigger
burden, regardless of whether they have the resources and capacity to
accept it.”
Food
Stamps are expected to be the target of cuts in budget negotiations in
Washington this summer. A recently passed budget resolution would
require $3 billion in cuts in mandatory services under jurisdiction of
the Senate Agriculture Committee, including Food Stamps. Other
nutrition programs, such as nutrition for Women, Infants and Children
(WIC), also could face cuts.
David Osterberg, executive director of the Iowa Policy Project, said decisions about reductions in federal nutrition assistance must take the consequences into account.
“Congress
should not cut food assistance without an assurance that the private
sector can handle a greater burden,” Osterberg said. “This is not
something where we can just ‘let the chips fall.’ That is just too
risky with people’s lives.”
(Click here to read the full report in PDF format.)
Further information is available at the Iowa Fiscal Partnership website.
The Iowa Fiscal Partnership is a joint budget and policy analysis
initiative of two nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations, the Mount
Vernon-based Iowa Policy Project, and the Des Moines-based Child &
Family Policy Center.
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