Spotlight on Food Hardship: Many New Yorkers may be going hungry this Thanksgiving

While Thanksgiving provides many New Yorkers the chance to come together over a shared meal, we spotlight the struggles some New Yorkers face in putting food on the table throughout the year. When families struggle with affording food, two major sources of help are available to them: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and free food from food pantries. 

Findings

• About 5% of New Yorkers, and 3% of Americans, often run out of food in any given year. 

• Around 40% of New Yorkers experienced at least one year where they at least sometimes ran out of food, and 16% experienced this difficulty in all three years of the survey. 

• Using Poverty Tracker data, we find that over 20 percent of New Yorkers benefit from SNAP over the course of a year, and about 10 percent benefit from free food from a food pantry. 

• Roughly half of pantry users report at least some work in the same years in which they use their pantries, and over a quarter work all year. Of the remainder, the vast majority (over 70 percent) are either aged or have severe health problems. 

For many New Yorkers, being able to put food on the table is a regular struggle and work alone is not enough to allow New Yorkers to meet routine expenses in such a high-cost city. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and food pantries are vital programs that households turn to help ends meet and address food insecurity.

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The Poverty Tracker is a longitudinal study of the dynamics of poverty and disadvantage in New York City. It is a joint project of Robin Hood and Columbia University.