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The latest statistics show that poverty has been increasing, thanks at least in part due to shutdowns brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers at the University of Washington have been analyzing the effect of poverty locally, in particular focusing on what’s referred to as “food insecurity.”

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“So basically, food insecurity, what we’re trying to get at here is a lack of consistent access to enough food to support an active and healthy lifestyle,” explained James Buskiewicz, an analyst at the UW who helps run the ongoing food survey. “So it’s not just about whether or not you’re actually experiencing the physical symptoms of hunger, but it’s whether or not you’re able to actually have healthy foods that can support you and your family.”

While hunger is a component of food insecurity, Buskiewicz says it could mean you’re skipping meals to have food for your children, or to stretch out your budget, or reducing how much you’re eating but not necessarily skipping entire meals.

“This kind of measurement is, I think, a better barometer for sort of overall economic security here [compared to hunger]. And we know that food is a core determinate of health, both physical health and mental well-being in stressors,” Buskiewicz said. “So this food insecurity aspect actually captures that a little bit better than just simply hunger alone. And more people are experiencing food insecurity than they are experiencing hunger.”

Of the UW survey respondents, Buskiewicz reports that 30% experienced food insecurity, roughly two-thirds of whom have children.

“That’s particularly salient because if children are experiencing food insecurity — parents … jump through a lot of different hoops to make sure their children aren’t experiencing hunger or food insecurity. And so if that’s actually happening in a household like that, that’s of particular concern,” he said.

Researchers are in the field now trying to figure out how the sample has changed with the pandemic.

“Numbers previously were about lower than one-fifth, so now we’re about, with our sample, which is a little bit lower income than Washington overall, we are seeing that one in three,” Buskiewicz said. “So we do think that it’s definitely gone up quite a bit. And there’s other evidence at other universities, in other states, that they’re seeing the similar one in three number that we got when we surveyed individuals from mid-June to July.”

Buskiewicz says 2,600 people have responded to the survey from 38 out of 39 counties in Washington. The only county they didn’t get was Ferry County.

“We think we can speak more confidently to Western Washington since we’ve got a larger sample size there, but we did get representative individuals from all over, throughout Washington state,” he said.

Buskiewicz explained that while there’s an extensive network of local food pantries, the issue isn’t just that they’re running out of food or having to shut down, but rather several changes in the system.

“When states issued the stay at home orders, there were a lot of disruptions, both … in terms of the loss of labor income or work, and access to school meals,” Buskiewicz said. “And simultaneously there has been changes to the food assistance benefits — so some programs, like SNAP, or food stamps and WIC, are making it easier by being able to use these benefits online. But there’s still a lot of worry about food safety.”

“There’s still increases in food costs, and many individuals are accessing the food assistance system for the very first time,” he added. “And so I think there’s issues with awareness, and there’s issues just with this influx of new folks who are accessing the system. There’s a lot of confusion about how they can use these benefits, how they could get delivery of meals, even school meals over the summer. And even now some of those meals are being delivered at home. So I think we’re having a lot of different issues here with people having some issues with awareness, issues with in terms of actual logistics of getting meals to folks, and then, of course, the providers actually being able to meet that demand as well.”

In the survey, Buskiewicz says they didn’t see the number of individuals using food assistance change, but there were 200 new folks using the system.

“So I do think there are a lot of people who are engaging with the system for the first time,” he said. “I think we can say the reason why we didn’t see that overall food assistance number really jump up is likely due to several different factors, including expanded unemployment and the stimulus checks.”

“And we’re not the only ones to kind of make that observation,” he continued. “There have been some organizations at the federal level that have said with their modeling that there would have been many more people who would likely be dipping into these food assistance programs were it not for those expanded benefits.”

Within the individual food assistance programs, there was a bit of a dip, but Buskiewicz says there was also an increased demand for food banks. Which, he explained, can have a huge impact if food banks aren’t prepared for the influx given that resources are being spread among a vast array of food banks.

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Moving forward, Buskiewicz says there needs to be a comprehensive approach to food insecurity and food assistance.

“We’ve already presented a lot of these findings to folks at the Washington Department of Agriculture and some of our other partners, and we’re trying to get the word out there,” he said. “… There’s a couple a couple of pieces here. One is to sort of take a multi-pronged approach to engagement in food assistance and food access, keep providing funding to these local and state programs, and federal programs, as well to actually get people benefits, getting food to food banks as well, but also not stopping there.”

“We clearly see evidence that the overall federal stimulus that went out to states and localities really did help,” Buskiewicz added. “While we can’t speak upon what would have happened if people didn’t get that, we’re actually thinking that in the wave two survey that’s actually in the field right now, we’ll be able to get at some of that to see if these numbers have changed. But I really do think this comprehensive approach is the way to go here.”

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