Aid Programs Reduced Hunger in US in 2020, but Racial Disparities Worsened 

A huge increase in federal food aid kept the number of U.S. households considered “food insecure” from rising during 2020, despite the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that more than one in 10 U.S. households was short of food at some point last year, and that racial and regional disparities in hunger increased despite the surge in federal aid.

Now, however, with the pandemic surging back throughout the country, the assistance programs that prevented an untold number of American families from facing food shortages last year are beginning to expire, raising the possibility that more Americans could soon find themselves going hungry. The USDA report issued Wednesday found that 10.5% of U.S. households lacked access to “enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members” for at least part of 2020, a percentage identical to the finding in the previous year’s survey. The survey also tracks people with “very low food security,” defined as a situation in which “one or more household members experienced reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns ... because of limited money and other resources for obtaining food.” The subset judged to have “very low food security” at some point in 2020 made up 3.9% of all households.