05/01/2020
More than 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. experienced food insecurity in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new survey results from the Urban Institute. This is just the latest evidence of escalating food hardship triggered by the COVID-19 crisis and why policymakers need to take additional steps to strengthen the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s (SNAP) ability to mitigate food insecurity and jump-start the economy. The data are drawn from an internet-based survey of a nationally representative group of adults. The brief was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. While 1 in 4 adults reported cutting back on food spending, the percentages were higher among households that have lost work hours and among Black and Hispanic households.
