Washington food banks are grappling with federal funding cuts while working to address increases in food insecurity and higher food costs.
Northwest Harvest says nearly 2 million Washington residents rely on SNAP and Medicaid.
The Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill, also known as H.R.1, reduced those federal programs when it went into law last July.
With the federal government shut down, families and people who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits will experience a worsening situation as funding of the program will end November 1 if the government remains closed.
The University District Food Bank in Seattle says it’s facing increased pressure to serve the community.
“Now, with the federal shutdown [we’re] really looking at and are worried about the beginning of November when SNAP will no longer be available to community members if the shutdown continues. When we think about how many people rely on SNAP in order to stay well-fed in our community. There’s no way that food banks are going to be able to make up for that,” said Joe Gruber, University District Food Bank executive director.
To address the urgent needs facing Washingtonians days away from losing their food stamps, Governor Bob Ferguson, on October 28, directed the state Department of Social and Health Services to transfer $2.2 million each week to the state’s Department of Agriculture, which gives grants to local food banks.
Ferguson said his directive was in response to Congressional Republicans’ government shutdown. The first funding transfer is expected to happen on November 3.
Northwest Harvest says cuts to SNAP and Medicaid programs will increase hunger, destabilize families and overwhelm our already strained emergency food system.
“This spring, TEFAP [The Emergency Food Assistance Program], the government commodity program, suffered a reduction. We estimate [it] costs us about $250,000 in food support, right? So that is food that wouldn’t be coming onto our shelves as a loss of that. And then with H.R.1 this summer, we’re really seeing a decision by the federal government to erode SNAP participation over time, right. They’re making it harder for folks through increased work requirements and some other changes administratively to participate in general,” Gruber said.
Gruber says their food purchasing costs have quadrupled in the past five years.
“Since 2023, we’ve gotten to be 70% busier with respect to the monthly households participating in the food bank. It’s about 11,000 household visits every month across our core programming,” Gruber said.
The Washington State Food Security Survey, released this year, found food insecurity was highest among households with children; larger families, and people ages 35 to 54.
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