As food insecurity increased 6% in 2023, people facing hunger are calling on the nation to join together to take bold steps to end hunger.
Despite some signs of an improving economy, high costs for food and other essentials like rent have intensified food insecurity for many families. According to Feeding America’s nationally representative 2024 Elevating Voices: Insights Report, people facing hunger shared that rising food costs (81%), having a low income or no income (66%), and the high cost of rent or buying a home (63%) ranked as the top issues they say are the main drivers of food insecurity in the U.S.
“As the richest country in the history of civilization, it should be unacceptable for more than 47 million human beings not to have access to the food they need to thrive,” said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America. “Though we are all unique individuals, we can be united by a common vision: an America without food insecurity. We know what it takes to end hunger for good; including embracing community-based solutions, collaborating across sectors and listening to people experiencing hunger—the true experts—to help identify the best pathways forward.”
While the experiences of neighbors facing hunger vary, they work hard and find resourceful ways to put food on the table. They remain optimistic about the future, and that hope, paired with their lived expertise, is represented in the Elevating Voices: Insights Report, which outlines bold steps for ending hunger:
- Neighbors should be able to choose the food they need and prefer. We all should have the freedom to choose the foods that meet our personal and cultural preferences without restrictive policies. One survey respondent shared that, “we aren’t able to buy the proper food that we need for our health conditions.” According to the report, 84% of neighbors surveyed say anti-hunger policies should support people’s dignity and choices in what they feed their families.
- Federal food assistance programs should keep up with changing economic realities. Federal food assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are essential resources and must evolve with changing economic circumstances. One survey respondent said, “I receive SNAP assistance, yet it doesn't come close to covering my food expenses, which means I have to use some of my disability pay towards food, but I don't buy the healthiest of food because I don't have enough money for that.” The report shows that 85% of neighbors surveyed say it’s important that anti-hunger policies increase monthly SNAP assistance to keep up with inflation and high food prices.
- Food insecurity should be tackled at the root. Ending food insecurity must involve changing the systems, policies and practices that hold people back. According to the report, 86% of neighbors surveyed agree that reducing food insecurity must include the government, the private sector, nonprofits, local institutions like schools and churches and communities joining forces.
- People should call for elected leaders to prioritize ending food insecurity. Creating a hunger-free nation requires supporting and electing leaders committed to food security. Lawmakers who care about investing in food assistance policies and programs must be at decision-making tables led by neighbors. According to the report, 93% of neighbors surveyed, regardless of political affiliation, say they want Congress to make food insecurity a priority.
To learn more about the specific focus areas identified by neighbors—such as prioritizing dignity, expanding opportunity, improving health, and increasing access—please visit FeedingAmerica.org/ElevatingVoices.
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About Feeding America
Feeding America® is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of more than 200 food banks, 21 statewide food bank associations, and over 60,000 partner agencies, food pantries and meal programs, we helped provide 5.3 billion meals to tens of millions of people in need last year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; brings attention to the social and systemic barriers that contribute to food insecurity in our nation; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on X.com.
About Elevating Voices
Elevating Voices is Feeding America’s platform for consistently engaging with and amplifying the experiences and expertise of people with lived experience of food insecurity to advance new understandings and narratives of food insecurity driven by the people closest to the issue.
The Elevating Voices: Insights Report is an annual Feeding America publication that provides a nationally representative snapshot of the experiences, concerns and policy views of people facing hunger in the U.S. In collaboration with the nonpartisan research firm PerryUndem, Feeding America designed and deployed an 18-minute national survey of neighbors, defined as those who reported their household received charitable food assistance and/or experienced food insecurity within the past two years. The survey, offered in English and Spanish, was conducted using NORC’s nationally representative online panel and was fielded from March 20 to April 9, 2024, with 1,495 adults participating. The survey oversampled Black adults, Latino adults, Asian American and Pacific Islander adults, Native American adults and adults who have visited a food bank in the past two years.