The congressional district that includes the North Olympic Peninsula has the third highest rate in the state of people who can’t always buy food, says a report released last month by the Food Research and Action Center.
The report consists of results from a Gallup-Healthways 2008-2009 nationwide survey that asked more than 650,000 people, among other things, how often they don’t have enough money to buy the food they or their family need.
The results were broken down by state and congressional district.
In Washington’s 6th Congressional District — which includes Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, Mason and Grays Harbor counties and a small slice of Pierce County that includes Tacoma — the number of respondents who said they’ve had trouble affording enough food was 18.8 percent during the two-year period of the survey, according to the Washington D.C.-based Food Research and Action Center.
Nationally, it ranked 186th — with one being the highest rate — and third out of the state’s nine districts.
The 5th Congressional District, which includes about half of eastern Washington, had the most at 19.6 percent.
The 3rd Congressional District, encompassing southwest Washington, had the second highest at 19.1 percent.
Rural districts
Linda Stone, senior food policy coordinator for Washington’s Children’s Alliance, said the 6th Congressional District probably was high on the list because it is largely rural.
“I think it’s probably a combination of the fact that it is a rural community so, not only are the kind of jobs people can get [are limited] and very resource-based,” she said, “the other aspect of that is services are not easily accessible on the communities way out on the Peninsula.”
The 5th and 3rd Congressional districts are also largely rural.
While the survey isn’t broken down per county, data from the state Department of Social and Health Services show the number of people on food stamps in Clallam and Jefferson counties is on the rise.
In Clallam County, the number of families on food stamps increased by 19.4 percent between October 2008 (4,234 families) and October 2009 (5,057).
The number of Jefferson County families on food stamps increased 29.2 percent during the same time period. In October 2008, 1,618 families participated in the program and in October 2009 that number had increased to 2,090.
State data also show that seven out of the nine school districts in Clallam and Jefferson counties saw an increase in the percentage of students receiving free or price-reduced lunches last year due to their economic status.
Two — Cape Flattery and Quilcene — saw a slight decrease.
Nationwide, the “food hardship rate” went from 16.3 percent at the beginning of 2008 to 19.5 percent by the end of that year. It then dropped to 17.9 percent by fall 2009 and went back up to 18.5 percent at the end of last year.
Jennifer Adach, Food Research and Action Center spokeswoman, said the increase in 2008 was due to rising unemployment and food prices. She attributed the brief drop last year to the federal government expanding social welfare programs, such as food stamps, and food prices stabilizing.
“On the other hand, it’s pretty well documented that food stamp programs don’t mean you have no worries,” she said.
“Families are still running out of resources by the end of the month.”
Better off in 2008
Washington state was better off when compared to the rest of the nation in 2008 than 2009, according to the organization.
Last year, it ranked 26th with a rate of 17.9 percent. In 2008, it ranked 38th with a rate of 15.8 percent.
Stone and Adach both said ensuring everyone in need has access to public food programs is part of the solution.
“The route of it all really is the economy and jobs,” Stone added.
Both said it is unclear where the rate is going to be at the end of the year.
Adach said the survey is important for understanding the extent of the problem because it’s the first time that nationwide data was available on a district-by-district basis within a month after the study was completed.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
