January 5, 2016 – When an unprecedented, across-the-board reduction in benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) went into effect on November 1, 2013 – a date now known as the “Hunger Cliff” – food pantries and soup kitchens across the city reported an immediate and widespread increase in visitor traffic. Nearly two years later, in September 2015, 90 percent of food pantries and soup kitchens were still experiencing increased visitor traffic, and approximately half (49 percent) reported having run out of food that month.
At the time of this writing, tens of thousands of New Yorkers stand at the precipice of a second
Hunger Cliff: on April 1, 2016, non-disabled, childless adults who rely on SNAP will lose those benefits if they have been jobless since the start of the year – regardless of their ability to afford food. Recent experience suggests that many of these New Yorkers, upon the loss of their benefits, will turn to the emergency food network, the food pantries and soup kitchens that serve as the resource of last resort for New Yorkers at risk of hunger. What is the capacity of this network, which has been forced to shoulder additional need for emergency resources with every new policy that weakens our public safety net? What is its potential? This research brief examines the resources with which food pantries operate in New York City at a moment when new benefit cuts could test their capacity once again.
Read the full report: Abundant in Heart, Short on Resources