New Figures Show Number of Recipients in Maryland’s Food Supplement Program Now Exceeds the Population of Baltimore City

With So Many in Need, Congress Must Protect Anti-Poverty Programs, Such as SNAP from Draconian Cuts

Food insecurity is increasing alarmingly in Maryland, with the Maryland’s Food Supplement Program (and federal Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP)) recipient list now exceeding the size of the state’s largest city.  These programs are the modern version of the old “Food Stamps” program. Baltimore City’s population is approximately 637,000 and Maryland’s Food Supplement Program participation is nearing 700,000—double what it was in January 2008, just one month after the 2007-2009 recession began.

Source: Maryland StateStat Reports & Dept of Human Resources Statistical Reports

Earlier this month, Maryland Hunger Solutions reported that one in eight Maryland households struggled with hunger during the 2008-2010 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reporting period.  During state Fiscal Years 2008, 2009 and 2010, participation in Maryland’s Food Supplement Program was around 360,000, 401,000 and 534,000, respectively.  State fiscal year 2011 closed out with participation at 645,000. 

Nevertheless, growth in the FSP is continuing into the current fiscal year, 2012. The latest data available from August 2011 shows participation at about 699,000.

Based upon this steady increase and prevailing economic and labor force conditions, it is reasonable to fear that the USDA’s next reporting will show another rise in the number of Maryland households struggling with hunger (i.e. skipping meals, eating cheaper, less nutritious foods, etc.).  On an administrative level, such an increase hampers the ability of the shrinking pool of Local Departments of Social Services staff to process the applications for the Food Supplement Program.  On a human level, the effects of the recession are real and prolonged, as evidenced by high unemployment rates, these food assistance and hunger figures, and the increasing number of Maryland households living in poverty.  

Make no mistake about it—without cash and noncash income programs, like FSP among other programs; even more people would be living in poverty. In fact, the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities points out in a major new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) that public programs (namely SNAP,  the Earned Income Tax Credit and Social Security) keep one in six Americans out of poverty — primarily the elderly, disabled, and working poor — and that the poverty rate would double without these programs.  Unfortunately, the budget passed by the U.S House of Representatives would impose draconian cuts on programs for low- and moderate-income families, ranging from SNAP and Medicaid to rental assistance, Pell Grants, and Head Start. Such cuts in programs would amplify the severity of poverty in Maryland, as well as in other states.  An all-cuts approach is not a tenable route to economic recovery, and would leave many families in dire straits indeed.

-Branden McLeod