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Return to Pandemic Hunger Levels Could Signal Economic Fragility
U.S. food banks warn of strain as Republicans seek food aid cuts
回到大流行時期的饑餓水平可能預示著美國經濟的脆弱性
當經濟學家和投資者搜尋有關通脹、就業、住房、銀行和其他風向性指標的數據，以確定美國是否正走向衰退時，參觀美國最大的食品銀行倉庫，可以提供一些不祥的線索。
這家非營利組織的高管表示，亞特蘭大社區食品銀行一半以上的貨架都是空的，部分原因是供應鏈問題，但主要是因為對食品援助的需求與COVID-19大流行期間一樣高。他們說，今年在亞特蘭大地區，五分之二的尋求食品援助的人以前沒有這樣做過。
“沒有人預料到這一點，”這家私人慈善機構的首席財務官Debra Shoaf說。該機構依靠企業和個人捐款以及政府撥款，向喬治亞州29個縣的饑餓人口分發食物。Shoaf同時也是全國慈善機構“喂養美國”的財務指導委員會成員，她說她在美國各地都聽到了類似的報告。“我們又回到了大流行時期的水平，”她說。
在一些地區，需求甚至超過了COVID大流行最嚴重的日子。在俄亥俄州中部，當地食品銀行表示，自去年以來，尋求援助的家庭數量增加了近一半。
美國人口普查局(Census Bureau)的數據顯示，4月初有超過1,140萬戶家庭領取了免費食品雜貨，較上年同期增長了15%。
“食品銀行已經存在了50年，但這是我們第一次看到前所未有的高食品需求和曆史上最低的失業率，”Vince Hall說，他是“喂養美國”的首席政府關係官，該組織支持6萬個食品儲藏室。
隨著大多數政府流行病緊急援助的結束，持續的需求出現了，特別是與covid有關的補充營養援助計劃(SNAP)的臨時增加，該計劃以前稱為食品券，是一項聯邦計劃，提供借記卡直接在商店購買食品。
通貨膨脹也是一個主要因素：根據美國勞工統計局的數據，自2020年3月疫情開始以來，食品價格上漲了23%。
東北大學(Northeastern University)商學教授John Lowrey的研究重點是食品銀行管理和公共衛生，他說，Covid後對免費食品的需求對經濟來說“不是一個好信號”，“也許是即將到來的衰退的一個指標”。
Lowrey說：“事實上，我們有很多第一次使用食品的人不再擔心去食品儲藏室的恥辱，而是看到了它的價值，因為他們再也買不起零售食品了。這是經濟和消費者健康狀況的合理代表。”
貝勒大學(Baylor University)經濟學教授Craig Gundersen是“供養美國”(Feeding America)的知名研究員，他說，食物銀行出現高於COVID水平的峰值是異常情況。他說，看到今年的需求增加並不奇怪，因為政府在大流行的緊急情況下提供了如此多的援助。他還指出，SNAP福利在2021年的強製審查後向上調整了，現在仍然比四年前高。
Gundersen說：“我們有經濟刺激計劃，很長一段時間人們不用付房租，失業救濟金也高於工資。”
Blue Ridge Area Food Bank的首席執行官Michael McKee表示，COVID緊急援助掩蓋了潛在的經濟現實。該銀行為弗吉尼亞州阿巴Labor小道上的25個縣提供服務。根據美國勞工統計局(Bureau of Labor Statistics)的最新數據，自2020年3月以來，通貨膨脹率超過了工資漲幅。
McKee說：“現在發生的事情揭示了這個國家糧食不安全的範圍、規模和普遍性，以及不平等的影響。不平等最近不僅來自通貨膨脹，還來自工資無法跟上生活成本的增長。”
“未知的領域”
一個複雜的因素是：政府食品援助問題已經卷入了議員們關於是否提高國家債務上限的辯論。
國會共和黨人提議限製糧食援助，作為打擊美國眾議院議長麥卡錫所說的拜登總統“不計後果的支出”的一攬子措施的一部分。
拜登總統抨擊了共和黨的提案，認為這會傷害低收入美國人。反饑餓倡導者告訴路透社，使人們更難獲得SNAP的政策可能會給食品銀行和其他緊急食品供應商帶來進一步的壓力。
SNAP政府項目是迄今為止美國為饑餓人口提供食物的最大方法。食品銀行和食品儲藏室的餐食分發量約為前者的十分之一，但它們仍然是第二大供應者，因此是社會安全網的重要組成部分。
隨著新冠疫情時期對SNAP的臨時補充停止，從喬治亞州到科羅拉多州再到弗吉尼亞州的食品銀行表示，對他們服務的需求有所增長。
在20個縣開展業務的俄亥俄州中部食品協會(Mid-Ohio Food Collective)報告稱，今年前三個月，家庭食品儲藏室的訪問量比去年同期增加了約45%，從約27萬次增加到約39萬次。
“我們正處於未知的領域，”該慈善機構的發言人Mike Hochron說。“家庭預算緊張，比以往任何時候都有更多的人求助於緊急係統來避免饑餓。”
自1988年以來一直在該行業工作的休斯頓食品銀行首席執行長Brian Greene說，很難進行長期比較，因為需求曆來超過供應。他說，休斯頓食品銀行是全國最大的食品銀行，今年分發的食品比去年少，但這是因為現金和食品捐贈減少了。
他說：“如果我們有疫情期間那麽多的食物，我們就會分發出去。”
弗吉尼亞州藍嶺食品銀行(Blue Ridge food bank)提供的食品儲藏室也報告了最近的價格飆升。2021年4月，杜勒斯南食品儲藏室每周為109個家庭提供服務。去年4月，它幫助了147個。這個月，這個數字是每周183個家庭。
弗吉尼亞州溫徹斯特的高地食品儲藏室表示，在疫情期間，它每周為大約90個家庭提供服務。這個月，它為大約135個家庭提供了服務。新客戶中包括47歲的雜工海伍德-紐曼（Haywood Newman），他在沒有援助的情況下度過了COVID，但他說他現在正在掙紮。
“你得付水費、垃圾費、電費、車費和房租——這些公司是不會幫你的，”紐曼說。
微薄的利潤
在亞特蘭大，全國最大的食品銀行倉庫占地4英畝。供應主管Michelle Grear說，它的設計目的是儲存大約500萬磅的食品，其中大部分是食品製造商和雜貨店用托盤捐贈的。她說，上個月的平均庫存僅為180萬磅。
到貨的食品很快就被搶購一空，在許多情況下，街邊的食品儲藏室在幾個小時內就被認領了。據Grear說，今年3月，倉庫收到了980萬英鎊，分發了960萬英鎊，利潤微薄。
31歲的單身母親莎朗·懷特(Sharawn White)在一家房地產公司工作，時薪約為18美元。本月，她第一次來到亞特蘭大地區的食品儲藏室。懷特說，在支付了日托費、房租和水電費後，她每個月還有大約300美元用於食物、汽油和意外開支。
四月初，懷特參觀了一個社區中心捐贈舊衣服，並注意到食品儲藏室正在排隊。她說：“這最終成為一件巨大的幸事。”
像大多數地區食品銀行一樣，亞特蘭大的這家食品銀行依靠政府資助的項目和企業和製造商的產品捐贈來獲得食品——他們盡量不自己花錢購買食品，除非遇到危機。根據食品銀行的記錄，在亞特蘭大，來自企業和農民的產品捐贈基本保持穩定，占分發食品的一半以上。但政府資助的比例發生了巨大變化。
食品銀行的記錄顯示，疫情爆發前，政府資助提供了亞特蘭大慈善機構分發的約27%的食品。在疫情最嚴重的2021財年，政府提供了近44%的資金。今年，政府資金將僅占13%左右。
為了彌補差額，亞特蘭大食品銀行倉庫的首席執行官Kyle Waide說，他的非營利組織將在本財政年度花費1800萬美元的現金儲備。五年前，該慈善機構購買的食品約占其向社區分發的食品的5%。今年，這一比例為25%。
“我們可以這樣做一段時間，”Kyle Waide說。“但這是不可持續的。”
Return to Pandemic Hunger Levels Could Signal Economic Fragility
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2023/04/23/2883989/return-to-pandemic-hunger-levels-could-signal-economic-fragility
April, 23, 2023 - 16:29
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - As economists and investors scour data on inflation, jobs, housing, banking and other bellwether indicators to determine whether the United States is headed for a recession, a visit to the nation’s largest food-bank warehouse offers some ominous clues.
More than half of the shelves at the Atlanta Community Food Bank are bare, in part because of supply-chain issues, but mostly because demand for food assistance is as high as it was during the COVID-19 pandemic, the nonprofit’s executives said. They said two in five people seeking food assistance in the Atlanta region this year have not done so before, Reuters reported.
“Nobody anticipated this,” said Debra Shoaf, chief financial officer of the private charity, which relies on corporate and individual donations, as well as government grants, to distribute food to the hungry in 29 Georgia counties. Shoaf, who also serves on the finance steering committee for the national charity Feeding America, says she’s hearing similar reports across the United States. “We’re back up to pandemic levels,” she said.
In some regions, demand is exceeding even the starkest days of the COVID pandemic. In central Ohio, the local food bank says the number of households seeking aid has increased by nearly half since last year.
More than 11.4 million households collected free groceries in early April, up 15% from a year ago, according to data from the Census Bureau.
“Food banks have been around for 50 years, but this is the first time we are seeing unprecedented high food demand combined with historically low unemployment rates,” said Vince Hall, chief government relations officer for Feeding America, which supports 60,000 food pantries.
The sustained demand comes as most government pandemic emergency aid ends - notably, temporary COVID-related increases to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, a federal program that provides debit cards to directly purchase food at stores.
Inflation is a major factor, too. Grocery prices have increased 23% since March 2020, when the pandemic began, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Such post-COVID demand for free food is “not a good signal” for the economy “and perhaps an indicator of an impending recession,” said John Lowrey, a business professor at Northeastern University whose research focuses on food bank management and public health.
“The fact that we have a lot of first time users who are no longer concerned about the stigma of going to a food pantry – and actually see value in it because they can no longer afford retail food – is a reasonable proxy for the health of the economy and consumers,” Lowrey said.
Houston Food Bank Chief Executive Brian Greene, who has worked in the industry since 1988, said it is difficult to make comparisons over time because demand has historically outstripped supply. He said the Houston Food Bank, the nation’s largest by volume, is distributing less food this year than last but that is because cash and food donations are down.
Pantries supplied by the Blue Ridge food bank in Virginia also reported recent spikes. In April 2021, the Dulles South Food Pantry served 109 families a week. In April of last year, it helped 147. This month, the figure is 183 families a week.
The Highland Food Pantry in Winchester, Virginia, said it served about 90 families a week during the pandemic. This month, it’s serving about 135. Among the new clients is Haywood Newman, a 47-year-old handyman, who made it through COVID without assistance but says he’s struggling now.
U.S. food banks warn of strain as Republicans seek food aid cuts
President Joe Biden, who this week criticized Republicans' proposals to further cut benefits in order to shrink the country's deficit, pledged last year to end hunger in the U.S. by 2030.
Food banks in Atlanta, New Jersey, Ohio, California, and Washington State and national anti-hunger groups told Reuters that demand is rising because of inflation and the end of a temporary expansion of federal food assistance benefits that kept millions out of poverty during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Four food banks told Reuters that demand is up between 46 and 125% since last spring, and that visits to their pantries are as high or higher than they were at the height of the pandemic.
More than 11.4 million households collected free groceries in early April, up 15% from a year ago, according to data from the Census Bureau.
"It feels like we've moved on from the pandemic," said Leslie Bacho, CEO of Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, which served 480,000 people in March – up 92% over last year. "But for food banks, we're still deep in a crisis."
Republicans in Congress are considering cuts to food assistance as one way to shrink federal spending as lawmakers debate whether to raise the country's borrowing limit.
A proposal on the debt issue released Wednesday by Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy included an expansion of work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the largest federal food aid program.
Currently, adults aged 18 to 50 without dependents must work or participate in a job training program at least 20 hours per week to receive SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, for more than three months.
People get free groceries at nourishing hope food pantry in Chicago, Illinois, U.S, August 29, 2022. REUTERS/Eric Cox/File Photo
McCarthy's plan would raise that age to 56. Republicans have often proposed stiffer work requirements for SNAP to lower program costs.
Biden, a Democrat, slammed McCarthy's proposal on Wednesday and warned it would harm low-income Americans.
Anti-hunger advocates told Reuters that policies that make it more difficult for people to access SNAP could put further strain on food banks and other emergency food providers.
"Making [work] requirements harder only worsens hunger," said Heather Taylor, managing director of Bread for the World, a Christian anti-hunger group.
'IT'S NOT SUSTAINABLE'
Households are facing food costs 8.5% higher than last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one reason people are heading to food pantries. Food banks also feel the pinch: two organizations told Reuters their food costs are up 25 to 30% this year compared to last spring.
Meanwhile, SNAP participants saw their benefits decrease by an average of $82 a month in March when the pandemic-era temporary expansion ended, according to Food Research and Action Center. Democrats in Congress negotiated a compromise with Republicans to end the benefits in exchange for a new summer food program for children.
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in December that it would allocate an additional $1 billion to food banks to meet rising demand. So far, $300 million has been distributed, an agency spokesperson said, with the rest to be allocated by the end of September.
March was the busiest month on record at the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, where first-time visits are up 63% this year compared to the same time last year, said senior vice president of communications Mike Hochron.
The organization is purchasing more food than ever to keep up. "It's not sustainable," Hochron said.
