by Ashley Baughman

NYC Hunger Experience 2009: A Year in Recession — the Food Bank For New York City’s new report, just released — reveals that throughout the five boroughs, the number of residents experiencing difficulty affording food decreased from 3.9 million (48 percent) in 2008 to 3.3 million (40 percent) in 2009 — even as all indicators, from soaring unemployment to rising food insecurity, suggest that today’s environment is even worse for low- and middle-income households. Is it possible that affording food has been easier for New Yorkers during the past year of the recession?

These findings suggest that the response to the economic crisis in the last year, including the federal stimulus package (the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, ARRA), had a real impact. ARRA and other measures bolstered resources for emergency food, food stamp benefits, the Earned Income Tax Credit, unemployment benefits and other supports for low- and middle-income families. These resource increases were an important step. However, as the lines at food assistance sites grew — including an increase in the number of first-time visitors reported by 93 percent of the soup kitchens and food pantries in our network — emergency food organizations citywide are still struggling to stretch resources and many have been forced to reduce their services.

And, while the Food Bank has worked hard to confront the unprecedented level of need seen over the past year, the 3.3 million New Yorkers experiencing difficulty affording food in 2009 continues the steady rise in need we have seen over the past six years.

As we look to 2010, most of the increases in support — designed as temporary responses to the recession — will soon end. The danger of losing ground and continuing this steady and worrisome trend is real. Further, in the current federal fiscal year, New York City is budgeted to receive half as much food from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) — an important piece of the hunger safety net — as we did last year.

Therefore, it is essential to address growing demand at soup kitchens and food pantries with immediate support for the hunger safety net that we know works. We must also implement permanent, long-term solutions to food poverty, including establishing affordable housing, health care and a living wage.

For further information from the Food Bank's recent report, NYC Hunger Experience 2009, download the full report and listen to Food Bank Vice President of Research, Policy & Education Áine Duggan on WNYC's "The Brian Lehrer Show."