Originally published as a guest post for New York Can End Child Poverty
You can’t solve problems you refuse to see.
Late last week, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the latest—and potentially the last—annual report on household food security, revealing a stark increase in hunger among New York families. On average, 14% of New York households experienced food insecurity from 2022-2024, a 36% spike compared to 2019-2021. Nationally, 13.7% of households experienced food insecurity, with significantly higher rates among households with children (18.4%) and Black and Hispanic households (24.4% and 20.2%, respectively). The data also finds that New York’s food insecurity rate remained higher than all neighboring states during this timeframe.
The report is especially sobering following USDA’s announcement in late September that it will no longer release the Household Food Security Report. The announcement came amid the rollout of unprecedented cuts to SNAP eligibility and administration included in H.R.1, the federal budget reconciliation bill passed in July.
The annual food security survey, which had been administered for nearly 30 years, provides important national and state-level information that helps advocates and policymakers evaluate public policy decisions and understand geographic and demographic trends that affect resource needs. Understanding this data allows us to shape better, more effective programs and policies to ensure all Americans, including all New Yorkers, have access to the food they need.
The loss of the federal report means we’re losing critical information at the worst possible time.
H.R.1’s SNAP cuts include a dramatic expansion of work reporting requirements that will jeopardize food aid for an estimated 300,000 New Yorkers. The bill also changes eligibility criteria for immigrants, potentially affecting up to 40,000 refugees and asylees in our state. Just when we need data most to understand the impact of these policy changes, we’re losing our primary tool for measuring it.
Without this data, we lose our ability to respond strategically to hunger in our state and effectively evaluate the impacts of national policies and state-level interventions.
When government stops collecting data on a problem, it doesn’t make the problem go away. It just makes it more difficult to quantify —and much harder to solve.
What We Can Do
Federal lawmakers must take swift action to reinstate this critical report. Contact your representatives today to share your support.
Here in New York, legislators and advocates must:
- Find or create alternative ways to track food insecurity in our state. Legislation has been introduced in both the Assembly and Senate (A.9168 / S.8553) that would direct New York’s Department of Health (DOH) to report on food security trends.
- Gather stories and amplify the voices of families and organizations on the ground who see food insecurity every day.
- Incorporate the lessons of previous reports, both the spikes and the drops in food insecurity, to advocate for policies proven to reduce hunger and food insecurity. Click here to send a message to your state representatives urging them to prioritize food security in the upcoming state budget.
- The need for food assistance doesn’t disappear just because we stop measuring it. Families will still go hungry. Children will still struggle. But now we’ll have a harder time proving it, planning for it, and preventing it.
We can’t solve problems by refusing to see them. New York families deserve better.
