Testimony: Hunger and Food Insecurity in New York City

Debipriya ChatterjeeJennifer Hinojosa

New York City Council Oversight Hearings

Thank you to Chairperson Ayala and to all the members of the General Welfare Committee for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Debipriya Chatterjee, and I am the Senior Economist at the Community Service Society of New York (CSS), a long-time nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of low-income New Yorkers using research, advocacy, and direct services. Together with my colleague Jennifer Hinojosa, a Policy Analyst at CSS, we would like to present on the severity of food insecurity today in our city and suggest policy recommendations.

The Community Service Society of New York’s statewide Annual Survey of Housing and Economic Security, conducted in the fall of 2024, provides valuable insights into the struggles households face across the city and the state.

CSS’s survey shows that almost a quarter (24 percent) of city residents experienced food insecurity in the past year, defined as skipping meals or going hungry due to lack of food, or relying on free meals from a food pantry, soup kitchen, or meal program. Among low-income residents—those with incomes below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL)—the rate was even higher at 38 percent. Even among those with full-time employment, 1-in-5 reported struggling to put food on the table. Unsurprisingly, food insecurity rates were higher among Black (27 percent) and Hispanic/Latino households (32 percent) compared to White households (17 percent), reflecting current and historical inequities.

Before we discuss proposals to alleviate food insecurity, it is important to understand how much a typical family in the city needs to spend on food. The National True Cost of Living campaign, a joint effort by CSS and the Federation for Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA), commissioned the Urban Institute to develop the True Cost of Economic Security (TCES)—a new measure that accounts for the comprehensive costs modern families face alongside the resources available to them. Urban’s report found that 62 percent of all families in New York City lack the resources to make ends meet. In other words, nearly two out of three families in the city are struggling. Among households with children, this figure increases to 74 percent. The TCES estimates that the median food costs for a family with children and no seniors amount to $14,600 annually. For households with seniors and no children, the yearly food budget is $10,300, while for multigenerational households—those with both seniors and children—food costs reach approximately $19,600.

In a report published in 2023, we examined the dizzying rise and fall and rise again of food insecurity in the city between 2019 and 2022. Food insecurity spiked with the onset of the pandemic and ensuing job losses; declined with the expansion of support programs such as SNAP Emergency Allotments, Summer Nutrition Assistance, and Pandemic EBT; and then increased again as these and other key programs like the expanded Child Tax Credit, expired.

Despite strong job and wage growth, especially at the bottom of the income distribution, households continue to struggle to afford basic necessities. To get a sense of the financial pressures New Yorkers face, we asked survey respondents, “If you paid less for housing, what would use that money for?” Across all income categories, one of the top three responses was food.

Today you have heard and will continue to hear from many non-profits and community-based organizations working tirelessly to ease food insecurity. In addition to echoing their requests, we urge the City to take proactive steps to improve the benefits access system and ensure that nutritional support is more accessible by passing Intros 0245, 1028, and 1148. In our testimony at this committee’s Preliminary Budget hearing, we highlighted improvements in SNAP processing times—up from around 40 percent in the summer of 2024 to nearly 90 percent today.

Administrative challenges not only make it take longer to receive benefits like SNAP, they also often cause recipients to lose their benefits entirely. Our survey shows that 15 percent of all potential recipients lost benefits in the past year, mostly due to incomplete or incorrect paperwork and missed application deadlines. Strengthening the City’s support infrastructure to help recipients complete and submit applications on time would enable more New Yorkers to access and retain the benefits they need.

We also want to highlight the critical role of local food pantries in addressing food insecurity. Among those in our survey who reported using a food pantry, soup kitchen or meal program, 43 percent were Hispanic, and more than half (53 percent) were families with young children.  Food pantries serve as essential support for those receiving insufficient public benefits and those ineligible for public assistance programs.

Despite this demonstrated need, the Preliminary FY 2026 Budget includes concerning reductions to essential food security programs, including cuts in funding for the Community Food Connection ($31.9 million) and Groceries to Go ($5.2 million). According to a New York City Independent Budget Office report, Community Food Connection-funded food pantries served 8.4 million individuals in the last quarter of 2024, underscoring their importance. Due to an 83 percent rise in emergency food visits from 2019 to 2024, NYC’s emergency food system is under unprecedented strain.

We strongly urge the Council to:

The state budget proposes two noteworthy policies that address food insecurity: free universal school meals and a SNAP minimum benefit of $50. This is welcome news at a time when city residents are bracing for the impact of federal policies. As proposed tariffs go into effect and trigger retaliatory tariffs, the average household will see over $1200 lost in purchasing power. And tariffs are poised to hit low-income families even harder, eroding up to $2000 in purchasing power. Combined with the proposed 20-22 percent reduction in SNAP benefits as included in the House budget proposal, the city stands to lose almost $1 billion in SNAP funding.

We hope that the City will recognize the moment for what it is and invest heavily to improve nutritional security for its residents.

Thank you again for this opportunity. Please reach out to me at dchatterjee@cssny.org if you have any questions or comments.

 

Issues Covered

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