The SNAP-funding mess makes L.A.’s food-insecurity crisis clear

A strange scene occurred at the Adams/Vermont farmers market near USC last week.

Pomegranates, squash and apples were in season, pink guavas so ripe their heady scent could be heard from a distance, and nutrient-packed potatoes were ready for the holidays.

But with federal funding uncertainty for the 1.5 million people in Los Angeles County who depend on food assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (or SNAP), the church parking lot that houses the market was largely devoid of customers.

Although the market accepts payments through CalFresh, the state’s SNAP program, almost no one lined up when the doors opened. Vendors stood mostly empty, alone at their produce stalls.

As thousands of people in Southern California lined up at food banks to collect free food and the fight over the delivery of federal allocations created uncertainty, fewer people receiving assistance appeared to be spending money at outdoor markets like this one.

“So far we’re doing 50% or less of what we normally do,” said Michael Bach, who works with Hunger Action, a nonprofit food relief organization that partners with farmers markets in the greater Los Angeles area to offer “Market Match” deals to customers paying with CalFresh debit cards.

The deal allows shoppers to purchase up to $30 worth of fruit items for just $15. Only a handful of clients had taken advantage of the offer, Bach’s colleague Estrellita Echor noted as she flipped through a notebook on her desk.

The absence was equally noticeable at farmers’ markets, where workers were staffed all week, he said. “I was in Pomona on Saturday; we only had six transactions the entire day,” he said. “Zero at La Mirada.”

CalFresh customers looking to double their money on purchases lost out heavily the next day at the downtown Los Angeles market, Echor said.

A volunteer loads a box of free food for a family at a drive-thru food distribution facility in the City of Industry.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

“This program usually attracts a lot of people, but they’re either holding on to what little they have left, or they don’t have anything in their cards,” he said.

The cut in aid came as a result of the Trump administration’s decision to issue only partial SNAP payments to states during the ongoing federal government shutdown and ignored a court order to restart funds for November. On Friday night, Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily blocked the ruling pending a ruling on the matter by the U.S. Court of Appeals.

But by then, CalFresh had begun charging 100% of November allocations to users’ debit cards. Despite this reprieve for food aid recipients in California, lack of access to food is a persistent problem in Los Angeles, director Kayla de la Haye said. Institute for Food System Equity at USC.

A. to work A study published by his team last year found that 25% of L.A. County residents (or about 832,000 people) experience food insecurity, and among low-income residents, the rate is even higher, at 41%. Researchers also found that 29% of county residents experience nutrition insecurity, meaning they lack options for purchasing healthy, nutritious food.

De la Haye said those numbers mark a slight improvement compared to data from 2023, when the end of the pandemic and increases to state, county and nonprofit aid programs (combined with rising inflation) caused hunger rates to rise in 2020, just as they did at the beginning of the pandemic.

“This was a huge wake-up call; 1 in 3 people were food insecure in 2020,” De la Haye said. “There were huge queues at food stores.”

But while USC research shows that prompt delivery of food aid through government programs and nonprofits can quickly reduce food insecurity rates in emergencies, researchers found that many vulnerable Angelenos do not participate in food assistance programs.

Although the county has made strides over the past decade to enroll more eligible families, only 29% of food insecure households in L.A. County are enrolled in CalFresh, and only 9% are enrolled in CalFresh, de la Haye said. WICThe federal nutrition program for women, infants, and children.

De la Haye said participants in the focus groups shared a variety of reasons for not signing up: Many didn’t know they qualified, while others said they were embarrassed to apply for help, fearful of the paperwork involved or afraid to disclose their immigration status. Some said they didn’t apply because they earned slightly more than the cutoff amounts for eligibility.

Even many welfare recipients are left struggling: 39% of CalFresh recipients lack an affordable food source and 45% face nutrition insecurity.

De la Haye said hunger and problems accessing healthy foods have serious impacts on short- and long-term health, contributing to higher rates of heart disease, diabetes and obesity in adults and children, as well as higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression. What’s more, when people are unsure of their financial situation, perishables like fresh, healthy foods are often the first things sacrificed because they can be more expensive, he said.

The USC study also revealed stark racial disparities: 31% of black residents and 32% of Latinos experienced food insecurity, while 11% of white residents and 14% of Asians experienced food insecurity.

De la Haye said his team was analyzing this year’s data and they would publish it in December. This analysis will examine the investments LA County has made in its food system over the past two years; This includes allocating $20 million in federal funds to 80 community organizations working on everything from urban farming to food pantries, and the recent creation of the county’s Office of Food Systems to address food availability challenges and increase healthy food consumption.

“These things that disrupt people’s ability to get food, including cuts to this important program that is so important for 1.5 million people in the county, we’re not weathering these storms very well,” de la Haye said. “People live on the edge of the cliff”