Lost in some of the headlines of the Delta variant, mega fires, Reno’s terrible air quality and a botched retreat from Afghanistan, has been the record drop in poverty rates this year, especially for children, and an oncoming boost of SNAP benefits across the country, starting in October, when the average benefit will increase by $36 per recipient per month.
The U.S Department of Agriculture conducted studies indicating current benefits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program were too low to provide for a healthy diet, with rising costs of fruits, vegetables and other wholesome food options.
“Ensuring low-income families have access to a healthy diet helps prevent disease, supports children in the classroom, reduces health care costs, and more,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. “And the additional money families will spend on groceries helps grow the food economy, creating thousands of new jobs along the way.”
A USDA study published earlier this summer indicated almost nine out of 10 SNAP participants faced challenges to achieving a healthy diet.
This development to rectify these food shortcomings also comes as the number of poor Americans is expected to fall by nearly 20 million from three years ago, according to several studies. This poverty decrease of nearly 45 percent of our country’s population has been directly tied to pandemic related relief programs and the recent strengthening of our federal safety nets.
In the United States the definition of poverty is generally getting less than $13,000 for one person per year, or $26,000 for a family of four. This is calculated from the poverty threshold set by the U.S. Census Bureau. Even with growing calls to modernize and refine how poverty is calculated exactly, the recent trend lines are clear.
For children, a recent Urban Institute report says over 30% of children would have been living in poverty without the additional Covid-era assistance programs, but that instead with these the child poverty rate has been driven down to 5%.
These figures represent the lowest level of record of Americans in poverty. Overall, projections from the Urban Institute would put poverty at 7.7% of the population at the end of the year, compared to 13.9% in 2018.
Which begs the question, rather than sunsetting some of the programs which have helped, such as enhanced unemployment and stimulus checks, shouldn’t we continue on this path, not just with SNAP and child credit checks, but with other programs as well? Or is high poverty among our population a policy choice wanted by many?
It’s clear that if you want to end poverty and help the poor, you don’t need charities, non profits or churches, you just need to put money in people’s hands. We hear the clarions of those saying this will lead to widespread laziness, rampant inflation and other economic catastrophes. But there are studies indicating COVID relief money isn’t leading people to quit working, just that they are making better decisions for themselves of what type of work to pursue. Why is that a bad thing? As for inflation doomsday scenarios and general economic tailspin, it hasn’t happened yet, so why not have policies that help the poor for a change?
Another big wildcard though is the end of the eviction moratorium amid this unaffordability crisis we are going through, which could tip more people back into poverty, as being poor and unhoused is especially expensive and can become its own vicious cycle if shelter is so out of reach.