Reports and Briefs

The Impact of Food Stamp Benefits on Family Homelessness in New York City (Revised)

In 2011, over one-third (35%) of New York City residents had difficulty affording essential food.[i] Since the recession, more fami­lies, both locally and nationally, are relying on the federal Supple­mental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program) for their nutritional needs. However, the SNAP benefit allowance does not take into account the higher cost of food in New York City compared to other urban areas. This dif­ference is especially problematic for New York City’s homeless and at-risk families and their children, who in large part depend on public assistance not only for food, but also for the resources they require to return to or maintain permanent housing.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year Estimates, 2003–10.

Despite the official end to the economic downturn in 2009, the City’s unemployment (8.9%) and poverty (20%) rates remained high through 2010. Facing tighter budgets, low-income fami­lies’ options for managing food insecurity—insufficient access to basic nutrition—are often limited to dietary sacrifices.[ii] In 2011, half (48%) of families making under $25,000 a year reduced the amount of food they purchased. One-third (33%) of low-income families reported having to choose rent payments over food and two-thirds (65%) said they would not be able to provide food for themselves within three months of a job loss.[iii] The lasting health effects of these trade-offs and dietary changes are felt most by children; studies have shown that young children living with food insecurity are more likely to develop chronic illnesses and experience cognitive delays.[iv]

Administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, SNAP works to combat food insecurity by supplementing the earnings of income-eligible families and defraying the cost of nutrition­ally adequate food. Nearly one-third (30%) of New York City families with children received SNAP benefits in 2010, an increase of 50% since the recession began in 2007. In 2010, half (49%) of all Bronx families and one-third (32%) of all Brooklyn families used SNAP to purchase food (figures 1 and 2). The boroughs with the lowest percentages of SNAP-enrolled fami­lies, Queens (21%) and Staten Island (15%), saw the steepest increases—76%—between 2007 and 2010.[v]

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2008—10 American Community Survey 3-year Estimates.

[i] Food Bank for New York City, NYC Hunger Experience 2011: Sacrifice and Support.

[ii] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Unemployment Rate Over-the-year Change in Metropoli­tan Areas Annual Average Rankings, June 2011; U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 American Community Survey 1-year Estimates.

[iii] Food Bank for New York City, NYC Hunger Experience 2011.

[iv] John T. Cook, et al., “Food Insecurity is Associated with Adverse Health Out­comes among Human Infants and Toddlers,” The Journal of Nutrition 134 (2004): 1,432–8; Katherine Alaimo, Christine M. Olson, and Edward A. Frongillo, Jr., “Food Insufficiency and American School-aged Children’s Cognitive, Academic, and Psychosocial Development,” Pediatrics 108, no. 1 (2001): 44–53.

[v] U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year Estimates, 2007–10.

Profiles of Risk No. 9: Child Health 6/2012 Profiles of Risk No. 6: Maternal Health and Well-being 3/2012 A Tangled Web: Homeless Family Subpopulations and Their Overlapping Needs 11/2011		Percent of Families with Children That Receive SNAP Benefits (by borough and year) Percent of Families with Children Receiving SNAP Benefits (by community district) Median Monthly Income and Average Monthly Price of Food for SNAP Recipients (by city)