A report commissioned by Food Research and Action Center finds 26-29 million American adults reported their household sometimes or often did not have enough to eat amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, based on U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data from April through June 2020. 11% of survey respondents from New York – including 14% of those in households with children – reported not having enough to eat.
The report, authored by economist Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach of Northwestern University, analyzes an even more severe measure of hunger than USDA’s annual measure of household food security. The data show COVID-19 has exacerbated the nation’s hunger crisis, with disproportionate impacts on Black and Latinx households, women, and children.
The report also highlights the vital role of federal nutrition assistance programs – including the new Pandemic-EBT program, which lifted millions of children out of hunger – and the need to further strengthen and expand the programs to alleviate food insecurity.
