May Lynn Tan, the association's director of research and strategic initiatives, who conducted a survey of food aid recipients this summer, said families are buying less food. She added that many are not able to afford nutritious meals and are worrying more about food.
CalMatters reports advocates credited a pandemic-era federal aid program that gave food assistance recipients more money for groceries for pulling food insecurity below 20 percent of California households between 2021 and 2022. The additional aid, Tan said, helped recipients buy healthier food and become more financially stable.
As prices soared last year, food insecurity spiked. Then, the boost in federal aid ended in April. By October, more than one-in-five California families -- more than three million households, including more than a million with children -- were steadily reporting uncertain access to food, according to Census data analyzed by the association.
While hunger overall is disproportionately borne by people of color, African American families in particular reported sharp increases this year. In April, 30 percent of African American households in California were food insecure. Six months later, the figure was 40 percent -- and nearly half of African American families with children.
Anti-poverty advocates had feared a rise in hunger after the end of the aid boost this year, which affected the nearly three million California households that receive CalFresh, the federally-funded food stamps program.
