Regional food insecurity worsens

THE GORGE — Over the past decade, those already struggling to put enough food on the table have found it more difficult to do so.

That’s what preliminary results show from the Columbia Gorge Food Security Coalition’s most recent survey, which captured responses from 1,373 households across Hood River, Wasco, Klickitat, Skamania and Sherman counties from last May through October.

Among all participants, 42% ran out of food in the year prior, almost double the figure from 2015. Those using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other benefits fared even worse: 69% ran out of food, compared with 34% in the 2015 survey.

“These small, little pieces of funds across the month or across the year are not enough to lift entire households or families out of poverty,” said Lauren Kraemer, an associate professor of practice at Oregon State University who’s writing up a report on the findings. “It’s still so strongly apparent in the data.”

In targeting populations likely to experience food insecurity, like migrant farmworkers and Indigenous folks living at in-lieu sites who are often missed otherwise, the survey is not statistically representative, nor are the results generalizable to the entire region. The coalition, including Columbia Gorge Food Bank, One Community Health, Gorge Grown and more than 30 other partners, intentionally sought a cross-section of those most affected to inform future services.

The ratio of respondents who didn’t have food assistance versus SNAP users was roughly equal, however, and Kraemer emphasized that a broad range of income levels were represented. But while the survey was completed a few months ago, it’s probably outdated already.

“This period preceded the implementation of several significant changes,” she said. “We are missing some of what would likely be even higher rates of food insecurity.”

After a temporary lapse in SNAP benefits last November, as previously reported by Columbia Gorge News, Oregon and Washington have also enacted new restrictions to the program mandated by federal law.

Before, SNAP required able-bodied adults between the ages of 18-54 without dependents to work at least 80 hours a month to access food stamps. Now, that age range stretches to 64 and adds work requirements for parents whose children are at least 14 years old. Previously exempt veterans, former foster youth and people experiencing houselessness will need to work as well, and all must abide by more frequent verification rules.

Similar to Medicaid, several studies show that SNAP work requirements lead to no significant increases in employment, but simply cause more people to lose their food stamps. About 129,000 people in Washington will see benefits decrease or cut entirely as a result. Oregon’s Department of Human Services announced that just over 13,000 were at risk in April and May alone from the rolling implementation.

Overwhelmingly, survey respondents pegged food prices as the biggest barrier to access, followed by difficulty acquiring food assistance and long travel times to stores. Although some families in the Gorge rely on bigger box stores like Costco or Winco to keep costs down, Kraemer noted that many can’t afford the larger up-front price tag or make the trip to Portland.

“It’s more expensive to drive, it’s more expensive to eat and shop and live,” she said. “In the Gorge, we have to layer on the extremely high cost of housing and kind of pretty low wage jobs for a lot of occupations, so I think it just makes it even more of a challenge here.”

Survey data also indicates food insecurity at 63% of households with children, and that 80% of migrant farmworkers don’t have enough to eat.

Alongside the new work requirements, fewer lawfully present immigrants can now receive food stamps. The same legislation, Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” eliminated SNAP-Ed, a program designed to provide nutrition education, promote physical activity and help low-income people lead healthier lives.

That forced Oregon State University to lay off 80 employees and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP, additionally announced that it will no longer collect data on national food insecurity. For Kraemer, all the above highlights how hunger is a policy choice.

“These are policy decisions that are made by humans, which can be disheartening,” Kraemer said. “The heartening thing, I guess, is just to flip the coin and realize other policies could change that.

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Visit www.gorgegrown.com/foodsecurity/ to sign up for Columbia Gorge Food Security Coalition’s newsletter and participate in their quarterly meetings.