Spotlight on Food Hardship in New York City
Lessons learned during the pandemic and where we go from here
The pandemic brought new and devastating challenges in quick succession. Despite the additional challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity rates in New York City remained stable between 2019 and 2020, a testament to the social policy response and efforts by the city’s emergency food distribution network.
Using Poverty Tracker data, we found that in 2020, the share of New Yorkers relying on food pantries for food more than doubled: 28% reported having received free food from an emergency food provider in the previous 12 months versus 13% in 2019. Key policy interventions and the expansion of the city’s emergency food distribution network were remarkably effective at preventing a devastating increase in food hardship. However, emergency food assistance providers across the city need continued support in order to meet New Yorkers’ needs. These expanded services need to be complemented by policies that continue to address a root cause of food hardship—economic insecurity.
Key Findings:
Reforms were made at all levels of government and across the city’s emergency food distribution network to address the threat of growing food hardship brought on by the pandemic.
The pandemic brought a significant increase in demand for emergency food assistance. This demand would have likely been substantially underserved absent the robust supply-side changes made by the city’s emergency food distribution network in this time of crisis.
Emergency food distribution sites also played an outsized role in supporting immigrant New Yorkers. The share of immigrant New Yorkers who received food from an emergency food provider nearly tripled between 2020 and years prior (rising from 11% to 32%).
However, food hardship is far too common in New York City: Nearly two in five adult New Yorkers continue to face food hardship. Black and Latino New Yorkers are disproportionately burdened, as are foreign-born New Yorkers and those in households with children.
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.