Why Californians need food assistance

At Code for America, we run GetCalFresh.org, which helps more than 30,000 households apply for food assistance every month. We've heard again and again how difficult it is for people experiencing hunger to seek out help. Despite their hardships, many of our users describe their reluctance to ask for help. Many tell us that they have never asked for help before and are ashamed about their situation. People applying for food assistance feel the stigma that arises from deeply ingrained myths about poverty and welfare in American culture.

Our users' stories challenge these myths. They reflect the common financial struggles that lead people to seek out food assistance. We know that, as one of our users put it, "The less fortunate are invisible to so many people." Our aim is to surface their stories, with dignity and respect, in order to create a more accurate and memorable picture of the people who seek out and receive food assistance in California.

Most GetCalFresh users were barely making ends meet when they were tipped into crisis by an unexpected expense, job loss, or cut in hours.^[4][5] Once cost of living is taken into account, California is the state with the highest poverty rate.^[6] Many Californians — working adults, families with children, students, seniors — live precarious financial lives, described in the stories in the first section of this site.

A financial shock, such as an illness or injury, a job loss, a rent increase, or even a car breakdown, might be enough to force a financially vulnerable household to make choices between food and other necessities. The second section of this site includes stories of adverse events that led Californians to seek out food assistance.

People feel shame in asking for help because they prefer to be self-sufficient. A common goal among users is to be on CalFresh for the shortest possible time. Others mention anxiety that friends, extended family, or employers might find out that they are seeking food assistance.

Food assistance is a way of coping with a challenge that almost everyone is familiar with: making ends meet. Despite its size and economic diversity, California is the fourth most expensive place to live in the country, after Hawaii, Washington DC, and New York.^[30]

These economic circumstances mean that many Californians can't quite manage their monthly expenses. The most common challenge GetCalFresh users mention in their applications is not being able to afford food after paying for rent, utilities, and transportation to get to work.

The testimonials of these parents echo the research findings. In interviews with 90 families with children receiving SNAP benefits, academics found that about half restricted their own eating to make sure their children would have enough food.^[32] In the U.S. in 2017, 15.7% of households with children were food insecure.^[33] In about 45% of these households (or 7% of all U.S. households), adults reported skipping meals or cutting the size of a meal in the last 30 days.^[34]

Despite their efforts, parents often struggle to provide healthy food for their kids. The median GetCalFresh parent works 38 hours a week, earning $14.70 an hour. In fact, 66% of GetCalFresh households with children include a working adult. Nationally, 65% of SNAP households with children include someone who is working.^[35]

Students often take desperate measures to stay fed: they join clubs for the food, participate in research for cash, and ask friends to swipe them into the dining hall. In some counties, a large share of GetCalFresh applicants are students. For example, students account for 60.7% of applications in Santa Cruz County and 58% of applications in Yolo County.

Young people entering the workforce experience the least secure, lowest paid period of their careers. SNAP can serve as a bridge to get them through. GetCalFresh applicants below age 30 work four fewer hours a week (32 vs. 36 hours/week), and earn two dollars less per hour ($13 vs. $15/hour), than applicants in their thirties. Moreover, 46.1% of applicants under age 30 live by themselves, compared to only 28.5% of applicants in their thirties.^[36]

As people age, they often struggle with declining physical or mental capacity to work. Many feel compelled to stop working, reduce their hours, or change jobs to cope with a major health crisis of their own or in their household. Even without health challenges, people in late middle age and over frequently report encountering age discrimination in the labor market. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many GetCalFresh users who are seniors mention unemployment as a reason for applying.

Households on the financial edge can hardly keep up with the bare necessities. With no buffer, a financial shock like a car accident, medical emergency, or unexpected layoff can break the budget for months, forcing people to choose between food, housing, and medical care.

Academic researchers distinguish financial shocks that lead to increased expenses (such as a rent increase or car breakdown) from those that lead to decreased income (such as reduced hours at work, or a job loss).^[44][45] In this section, we'll share applicants' stories of the shocks that led them to seek food assistance. Common financial shocks include losing a job, getting sick or injured, or needing to care for a family member. Natural disasters, while less frequent, can also be a shock — in late 2018, thousands of people applied for food assistance after being displaced by California's wildfires.

Roughly two in five households that fall into poverty do so because of the loss of a job. Nearly half (47%) of households that exit poverty will do so because of a new job.^[46] For people who are between jobs, SNAP reduces stress about food availability and the pressure to make trade-offs to get by. Clients share stories about dire choices they have made, like selling a car in a rush, or using rent money for food (and then being evicted). The most common reason applicants tell us they no longer need food assistance is that they went from unemployed to employed, found a better job, or got more hours. SNAP provides the stability to find a higher paying job or one with more regular hours.

People who have recently become disabled may qualify for disability (SSI), but rely on SNAP while they wait. It may take three to four months to get an initial decision for disability benefits, which was a denial in 80% of disability cases in 2016.^[47] Those denied often appeal, but in 2017, the average wait for an appeal was nearly 20 months.^[48] More than 40% of SNAP participants with a disability do not receive SSI or SSDI and 28% of non-elderly adults on SNAP have a disability.^[49]

It's hard to find care for disabled children and adults who are not yet seniors. Family members providing care often have to cut back on their work hours. This reduces a family's ability to buy healthy food. Households with disabled individuals are two to three times more likely to be food insecure.^[50]

As the stories above convey, CalFresh provides a critical line of support to those experiencing displacement from natural disasters. In the fall of 2018, catastrophic fires across California put many residents who were just getting by into a crisis, leading thousands to seek out food assistance.

One in five Californians lives in poverty once the state's high cost of living is taken into account.^[51] CalFresh helps millions of California workers in low-paying jobs buy healthy food during a time of need.

Users tell us that CalFresh helped them through a challenging time. They also acknowledge that they had to overcome stigma in order to apply. Yet, taken together, their stories remind us that the stigma around food assistance is based on myths. First, most people don't want to live on government assistance. They want to be independent. They feel ashamed that they need help. Second, our users' stories show that people need assistance because of setbacks that could happen to anyone. Generally, people fall into poverty and apply for food assistance because of adverse circumstances and life events, not because of their work ethic.^[52][53][54] The research shows that individual financial vulnerability and crisis are products of our society. Yet, to the people who were barely getting by before a job loss, illness, or a natural disaster, their hardships may feel unique, inviting feelings of shame and isolation. The stories our users have shared remind us that those who need help are not alone in their circumstances, nor in their desire to get back on their feet.

GetCalFresh user stories remind us that the vast majority of people want to be self-sufficient. Research shows that over half of SNAP recipients who can work are working and that over 80% worked within 12 months of receiving SNAP. People often turn to SNAP when one household member becomes underemployed or loses a job — SNAP reduces food insecurity and stabilizes finances during these transitions.^[55] College students and new entrants to the labor force rely on SNAP as they build up their skills and increase their earnings potential, precisely so that they can avoid the job volatility and wage stagnation that our users in working families often describe.^[56] Our users, just like the vast majority of Americans, express a strong desire for independence and self-determination.^[57]