According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Economic Research Service, 15 million households in the United States, or 11.8 percent, suffered from food insecurity in 2017, defined as “a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life.” In a survey conducted by the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), 45 percent of adults surveyed consider hunger in the United States a serious problem. Eighty-six percent agreed with the statement “in the United States no one should go hungry.” Yet, 46 percent of those same adults believed that eradicating hunger is not an achievable goal. This is because the United States does not consider access to affordable, healthy food a right necessitating governmental protection.
We in the United States do not treat food access as a basic human right; we treat it as a privilege. Our hunger safety net programs do not reach everyone in need and our social safety net policies fail to recognize the need to eliminate poverty as a first step to eliminating hunger. Some levels of our government choose to remain indolent about our hunger crisis, or even threaten to cut these programs’ funding and reduce eligibility. State and local governments routinely pass legislation to protect our nation’s hungriest, while the current presidential administration faces warranted backlash for proposing cuts to eligibility for SNAP and WIC. This comes as no surprise when we consider our historical record with human rights.
The History of Food as a Human Right
The United States has had three chances to recognize food as a basic human right. In 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) proposed his Second Bill of Rights. The right to “earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation,” was included. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt took her late husband’s draft of the Second Bill of Rights to the United Nations (UN), where it contributed to the formation of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
On December 10, 1948, the UN voted to adopt the UDHR. Article 25 of the UDHR states that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care. . . .” Over 160 countries have ratified the UDHR, yet 70 years later it remains unratified by the United States. The United States has also failed to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966, which demands governmental guarantees to health, education, social protection, and an adequate standard of living for all people. While President Jimmy Carter signed the Covenant in 1977, it too remains unratified.
Without ratification of the UDHR or the Covenant, the U.S. government is not required to protect the rights contained within these documents and cannot face punishment from the international community for failing to protect these rights. When someone in the United States faces hunger, their only form of assistance comes in the form of social safety net programs.
Anti-Hunger Programs in the United States
At present, when an individual in the United States becomes food insecure and meets certain requirements, they are eligible for food safety net programs meant to provide temporary relief. These include SNAP, WIC, National School Lunch Program, Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), and many more. These programs reduce hunger by lifting families out of poverty by supplementing the income of the family to push their income over the poverty line. In 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services determined that for a family of four to be considered living in poverty, their annual income must be $25,750 or less. Many question the value of using the U.S. poverty line as a measure for determining safety net program eligibility because it does not take into consideration the cost of living and is also falling further from the median family income.
One of the most effective programs at lifting families out of poverty is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. According to the U.S. Census, SNAP lifted 3.4 million people, including 1.5 million children, out of poverty in 2017.
The American Dream Doesn't Work for Everyone
SNAP lifts families out of poverty by freeing up money that would otherwise go toward food, allowing it to instead go toward other necessities like clothing, housing, and medical expenses. However, while SNAP has proved immensely powerful to many, it does not lift everyone out of poverty. People both above and below the poverty line can qualify for SNAP. This is because having a job no longer guarantees that you can stay above the poverty line and staying above the poverty line does not mean that you are no longer poor. Of the 45.7 million individuals who received SNAP benefits in the 2015 fiscal year (FY), 44 percent were children, 10.6 percent were older adults, and 9.5 percent were non-elderly adults with disabilities. The remaining 35.9 percent of SNAP benefit recipients are non-disabled, non-elderly adults. Many of those able-bodied adults worked during the 2015 FY, yet still live in deep enough poverty to qualify for SNAP. These people are known as “the working poor.”
The “working poor” is defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as individuals who spend at least 27 weeks of the year working or looking for work, yet still fall below the federal poverty line. Despite working full-time jobs, many find themselves in poverty due to low wages, unstable work schedules, and the high costs of living in poverty, to name only a few reasons. Costs like childcare, education, banking, transportation, housing, and medical expenses are all rising at rates such that, for many families, the minimum wage even when working full time is insufficient.
According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), the number of SNAP applications steadily rose between 2007 and 2013 by 81 percent due to the Great Recession. Though the number of people enrolled in SNAP has dropped since its 2012 high, the numbers remain above pre-recession levels. This is partly because even when the unemployment rates improve, the poverty rates tend to lag several years, keeping SNAP enrollment relatively higher. A 2019 report from CBPP indicates that both the proportion and the number of individuals participating in SNAP have increased since 2007. More people have become eligible for SNAP, and utilization has increased from 2007 to 2016 as well. In 2007, 37 million people were eligible, while 69 percent participated, and in 2016, 47 million people were eligible, while 85 percent participated. Many variables could explain these increases, such as a reduction in the stigma surrounding SNAP, greater awareness of the program, and higher costs of living adding to the stress of families living at or near poverty levels.