Closing the Meal Gap: The Hunger Index Drew Starbird

What is the Hunger Index? MEASURE COMPARE REVEAL UNDERSTAND

How do we use the Hunger Index? Monitoring Forecasting Communicating Decision-making Partnering

Closing the Meal Gap: The Hunger Index Household Spending on Food 2014 San Mateo and Santa Clara Let’s talk first about household spending on food. This will help us understand the need for food by the most vulnerable members of our community.

Household Spending on Food One way to measure the need is to compare how much is spent on food with how much ought to be spent on food. Using data from the US Department of Commerce Consumer Expenditure Survey, we can determine how much is spent by households in different income categories. At the low end of the scale ($10,000 per year) households are spending about 36% of their income on food. At $50,000 per year, households are spending about 12% of their income on food. The stunning thing is that the US Department of Agriculture estimates that a low-cost minimum diet for households in these categories would cost about $7300 per year (73% to about 15%) of income. Clearly there is a gap. CalFresh helps – but only for those in the bottom categories. How many households are in these categories?

How many households? Using data from the US Census, American Community Survey, we can get a feel for the number of households in these income categories in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. These estimates are the best we can get, but they still exhibit quite a bit of error since it is difficult to get information from households in these income categories. In the two counties, we estimate there are 256,000 households living on less than $50,000 per year.

Closing the Meal Gap: The Hunger Index Vulnerable Households Let’s take a closer look by comparing the number of vulnerable households to the whole population.

How many households are vulnerable? (000 households) 25% 75% 26% 74% If we split the counties, the number of households living on less than $50,000 per year is consistent with the overall size of the Santa Clara and San Mateo. 29-30% of the households in Santa Clara and San Mateo are vulnerable. This percentage is down from previous years reflecting a reduction in unemployment and a stronger local economy.

Vulnerable Households and Meals Needed

Closing the Meal Gap: The Hunger Index Where does this food come from? Where does the food come from?

Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties 2014 733 Million Meals 226,000 households Based on the data we received from the US Dept of Commerce, and information provide by our partners in the community: These 256,000 vulnerable households are able to PURCHASE 417 million meals They receive 221 million meals in food assistance. And the MEAL GAP is about 176 million meals. As a percentage of the entire need, we have seen an increase in food assistance and a slight decline in the number of missing meals.

Food Assistance in SC & SM Counties 2014T Total Food Assistance: 219 million meals One of the most important parts of this analysis is the FOOD ASSISTANCE provided by the community. Of the 221 million meals in food assistance Half comes from our friends at CalFresh The FOOD BANK provides about 19% or about 42 million meals School meals provide about 27 million meals or 12% Our partner agencies collect food from many sources and offer about 20 million meals. The remainder comes from WIC and other programs, like CACFP and senior nutrition programs.

Total Food Assistance Provided

Closing the Meal Gap: The Hunger Index How are we doing? The Hunger Index 2014 How are we doing? The hunger index measures the percentage of need that is unmet. 0 is better, 1 is terrible.

SC & SM County Hunger Index (million meals) 45.9% 44.4% 44.4% In 2013 we saw a slight improvement in the hunger index from 2011 and 2012. The total need decreased slightly (about 4 million meals) as a result of an improved economy and less unemployment. Food assistance continued to grow (but at a slower rate than in the past). So we see a slight reduction in the hunger index (a very good thing). About 8 million fewer missing meals. Enough to feed about 7000 people for a year. The food assistance community, combined with improved economic conditions, have moved us in the right direction. With luck we will continue to see improvement in 2014 and 2015.

Closing the Meal Gap: The Hunger Index What have we learned? What does the hunger index tell us? What have we learned from the analysis?

The number of vulnerable households has declined because of better economic conditions An improved economy means a shortage of some basics. Housing and transportation costs are increasing. Vulnerable families will need to adapt.

Food assistance declined in the two counties mostly due to government programs We have been using a $50,000 per year per household cut-off for vulnerable households for many years (it is based on how statistics are reported by the government). We will need to figure out how to redefine that as local cost of living increases.

Increase in Food Bank and agency distributions stabilized the Hunger Index. We have not measured food quality in this study only meals and pounds. As the focus of today’s Summit attests, there are important health impacts associated with food quality. How will we take that into account in the future?

Population, economics, and disruption drive the need for food. Are we ready for the future? None of us operates alone. We make a difference as long as we work together. Santa Clara University is proud to work with the people in this room to help make a difference in our community.