FOOD SCARCITY
Food scarcity in the Houston-The Woodlands- Sugar Land metro area peaked at 21.4% between Oct. 28-Nov. 9, 2020, according to U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data.
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local food scarcity peaked at 21.4% and has since fluctuated, dropping to 11.3% between March 30-April 11, 2022. “There for a while in COVID[-19], [demand] seemed to kind of die down a little bit because a lot of money was being put into the community through the government,” said Millie Garri- son, executive director of Humble Area Assistance Ministries. “But once that [money] stopped, [demand] just increased because now food costs have gone up; gas has gone up; and there’s no help.” The Houston metro’s unemploy- ment rate dropped from 13.3% in April 2020 to 4.4% in March 2022, accord- ing to Texas Workforce Commission data. However, local food bank leaders said ongoing supply chain challenges and inflation have continued to drive the demand for food assistance while making it harder to meet those needs. Pre-existing conditions Food insecurity has long been a challenge in the Lake Houston com- munity even prior to the pandemic, local leaders said. Between the 2014-15 and 2021-22 school years, the portion of students who were considered economically disadvantaged—which includes stu- dents who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals—increased from 33.37% to 41.71% in Humble ISD and from 62.41% to 67.12% in New Caney ISD, according to Texas Education Agency data. “Food insecurity has been around for a long time. It’s not a new issue, but it’s something that’s kind of come to the top because it hit home for so many people who have never had to face hunger in their entire lives,” said Kristine Marlow, president and CEO of the Montgomery County Food Bank. When the pandemic began, Brian
SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU HOUSEHOLD PULSE SURVEY/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Food scarcity is defined as the percentage of adults in households in which there was either sometimes or often not enough to eat in the last seven days.
21.4%
25%
20%
11.3%
10.9%
15%
10%
5%
0
May 2020
2021
2022
Greene, president and CEO of the Houston Food Bank, said local food pantries were inundated with thou- sands of new clients almost overnight. “As soon as those closures and lay- offs hit, the lines went crazy long— longer than we’ve ever seen, like even after Hurricane Harvey,” Greene said. Likewise, Marlow said the Mont- gomery County Food Bank nearly dou- bled its monthly clientele early in the pandemic from 45,000 to 88,000 cli- ents in one month. The Lake Houston community is home to five food distribution part- ners through the Houston Food Bank and four pantry partners through the Montgomery County Food Bank—all of which had to quickly pivot to meet the greater demand while enforcing social distancing with fewer volunteers. Both the Houston and Montgom- ery County food banks as well as HAAM began hosting mobile food distributions and delivering food to vulnerable populations to meet the increased need. Additionally, contact- less drive-thru distribution became
has not raised its minimum wage over the past decade and is still at the fed- eral minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Meanwhile, the consumer price index for all urban consumers has risen by 8.5% in the past 12 months as of March 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “It’s overall inflation that matters, not just food inflation. … Food just happens to be their most flexible expense,” Greene said. “You can’t pay 90% of your rent. You can pay 90% of your food costs, [but] you’ll either just go hungry or, what usually happens is, make nutritional compromises.” At the same time, the food banks, which pick up and deliver products for distribution via diesel trucks, are deal- ing with their own set of challenges as gas prices rise. “We run over 60 trucks a day. We spend $3,000 plus on fuel per day, six days a week—and that was before the gas prices went up,” Greene said. Meanwhile, Marlow said supply chain issues have made it harder for food banks to keep certain products
commonplace, which Greene said had unexpected benefits. “A lot of those working households did not feel comfortable going to their local church pantry because they would see their neighbors and they’d feel like they were being judged,” Greene said. “With curbside distribu- tion, … you drive through, pop your trunk and leave. … So we were actually serving households that weren’t com- ing to us before.” Although COVID-19 cases and unem- ployment claims have since declined, local food bank leaders said the demand for assistance remains high. Ongoing challenges Even under normal circumstances, Greene said local food banks are hard pressed to meet the demand. “Normally, we don’t meet need even on our best day because the reality of food insecurity is that food insecurity isn’t really about food; food insecurity is about income,” Greene said. According to the Labor Law Center, Texas is one of 20 states in the U.S. that
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