Hawaii Island food banks are bracing for an increase in demand for assistance amid a reduction in federal funding.
Changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, that were signed into law July 4 by President Trump will cut about $186 billion in food benefits nationwide, affecting more than 42 million people.
The changes that could affect access include a funding shift that puts more of the burden on states, new work requirements for previously exempt individuals like those aged between 55 and 64, limited or removal of food stamp access for noncitizens residing here legally, and a cap on future benefit increases t0 meet inflation.
The nonpartisan Urban Institute thinktank found an estimated 22.3 million families nationwide would lose some of all of their SNAP benefits. The organization also used a simulation model to determine the likely impact on each of the 50 states and found an estimated 94,000 families in Hawaii will lose some or all of their food benefits.
Kristin Frost Albrecht, the executive director of The Food Basket, said 40% of Hawaii Island’s population suffers from food insecurity, the highest rate in the state.
She said that due to “federal program cuts, including canceled food shipments and frozen funds … ,” The Food Basket has lost an estimated $2 million.
“This will dramatically increase the hunger crisis we are currently experiencing on Hawaii Island,” Frost Albrecht said, explaining that the most impacted communities will be in the rural, isolated areas that are home to 12 federally designated food deserts. “We are deeply concerned about the well-being of residents who reside in these areas, many whom have limited transportation and access to affordable food.”
Another nonprofit organization helping to fight hunger is the Hawi-based Kohala Food Hub, which has served North and South Kohala since 2019. Its online grocery service accepts SNAP for food that can be delivered in North Kohala or picked up at eight community access points in Waimea, Waikoloa and Kawaihae.
According to its 2024 annual report, the Food Hub distributed over 94,000 pounds of fresh food to over 900 families islandwide, 295 of which received food at no cost.
That food assistance is an important resource for rural communities with high rates of households that fall within the ALICE (asset limited, income constrained, employed) threshold. According to the 2023 ALICE Report, 39% of households in North Kohala and over 38% of households in South Kohala were below the ALICE threshold in 2022.
Maya Parish, the executive director of the Kohala Food Hub, said recent cuts to the federal Department of Agriculture forced the Food Hub to end its ‘Umeke ‘Ai Pono program, which operated through the Hawaii Good Food Alliance since early February. Parish said that program served over 225 households in 22 weeks, and she predicts that the newly enacted cuts to food assistance will only lead to greater food insecurity.
“I imagine we will see that these cuts to USDA and the SNAP program will, in the short term, increase food insecurity and hunger and put the most vulnerable in our communities in a position of making even more impossible choices than they are already have to as to whether to pay for fresh, healthy food, medicine, rent, utilities or fuel,” Parish said.
“Because processed food is often less expensive than fresh food, long-term effects will most certainly contribute to more diet-related and preventable illnesses, putting more pressure on the health care system, the social safety net, and on the households and individuals contending with these illnesses,” she said.
Chelsea Takahashi, director of healthy food access initiatives at The Food Basket, said the tendency toward more affordable processed foods despite potential future health problems is an issue food banks nonprofits tackled with the help of SNAP-Ed, a federally funded food education program administered through the state Department of Health.
Though SNAP-Ed is being eliminated as part of the federal cutbacks, Takahashi said The Food Basket — which she said helps an average of 60,000 people monthly access healthy food, essentially all of whom either have or are eligible for SNAP benefits — will continue to work on outreach efforts.
“The Food Basket is a contracted SNAP outreach provider,” she said. “There are protocols already to maintain periodic check-ins (with beneficiaries) and their eligibility for the program. Our outreach program is going to be doing their best to educate people on these upcoming barriers and help them keep track of their documents.”
Takahashi said the community she’s most worried about being devastated by the cuts to SNAP are people currently experiencing or nearing homelessness who might have difficulty meeting the work requirements for eligibility.
“For the homeless population and communities without enough jobs available, these work requirements will push people off of the program,” she said. “If you’re already on the brink of homelessness, not being able to get your SNAP benefits will probably put some people in more of a permanent state of homelessness.”
Frost Albrecht said she is hopeful the community will continue to help the food bank meet the needs of the island’s vulnerable populations, and added the nonprofit is diversifying its fundraising efforts through avenues like increased grant writing. She also remains optimistic local government will do more to address the shortfalls.
“We are very hopeful that our state and county governments will step up to provide additional funding for emergency food resources,” she said. “That would allow us to purchase more food directly from local farmers and producers with the added benefit of increasing our island’s resilience, sustainability and food security.”
Email Kyveli Diener at kdiener@hawaiitribune-herald.com.