One In Eight Households Short On Food Washington Ranks Eighth Worst In National Study On Hunger

Despite the nation’s roaring economy, at least one out of every eight Washington households and one out of every 10 in Idaho are going hungry or have no consistent access to adequate food, the Agriculture Department said Thursday.

New Mexico had the largest share, 15.1 percent, of households that were either hungry or threatened with hunger from 1996 to 1998, according to a government study. Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oregon had rates of 12.6 percent or higher.

Washington’s high percentage of hungry families ranked eighth-worst nationally.

And in a more specific measure of the problem - a percent of families who had gone hungry over the last year - Washington ranked sixth from the bottom, with 5 percent of families feeling pangs from lack of food.

“During this, the most prosperous economy in decades, it should shock most Americans to learn that hunger persists and it is in every state,” Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said. “The problem of hunger amid America’s plenty cannot and will not be ignored.”

North Dakota had by far the smallest share of households that are short of food at 4.6 percent. Four other states - Massachusetts, South Dakota, Delaware and Minnesota - had rates below 7 percent.

Nationally, 9.7 percent of households lacked consistent funds for needed food, according to the report based on annual household surveys conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.

“While it’s true that some states report deeper and wider hunger than others, no state should take too much pride in doing better than one in 10 homes, the national average,” said David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, a relief organization.

The study’s results generally tracked poverty rates, but there were a few states, including Washington, Oregon and New Hampshire, where the incidence of hunger was higher.

Agriculture Department officials said it was possible for a family to be living above the poverty line and still go through periods during the year when they were short of food. Local costs of living have an impact on hunger, they said, as well as family support and the availability of community nutrition programs.

Linda Stone, an expert on hunger with Spokane’s office of the Children’s Alliance, noted that Washington ranked near the bottom in the USDA’s 1995 report.

“The alarming thing for Washington is, with the exception of Oregon, the rest of the states are ones you would expect” to have high rates of hunger, she said.

“The fact that we are still in the bottom 10 and it’s a significant problem reinforces what we see at food banks and in talking to low-income families. There seems to be a high incidence of families concerned about resources to meet basic needs.”

One of the biggest causes of hunger in Spokane, she says, is the instability of service and retail-based jobs.

“The market is not full-time, and it can vary every day in the number of hours you get. Families just don’t know how much they’re going to have at the end of the month.”

A study by the Urban Institute of Washington’s families earlier this year found that families well above the poverty line worry about money at the end of the month.

“It’s clear to me that you don’t have to live below the poverty level to run out of money for food,” she said.

Another significant problem, she says, is the declining number of people on food stamps.

Nationwide, participation in the food stamp program has fallen by 27 percent since 1995.

While the drop is due largely to the strong economy and changes in eligibility requirements, demand has grown for food aid from other programs and nonprofit organizations. A recent report by the congressional General Accounting Office said some state and local governments have unfairly discouraged poor families from applying for food stamps.

Nationwide, two of five working families eligible for food stamps actually apply for the assistance, according to USDA. The department is streamlining reporting rules for food stamp recipients and stepping up promotion of the program to try to increase participation.

AT A GLANCE The Northwest Percentage of households in each state that had limited or uncertain access to food in 1996 through 1998, according to the Agriculture Department. State Percent Oregon 12.6 Washington 11.9 Montana1 0.2 Idaho 10.1

Staff writer Jonathan Martin contributed to this report.