Food help eligibility should be adjusted in expensive areas

Only the very poorest are able to qualify, leaving a significant number of San Mateo County families in the unfortunate position of having an income considered too high to qualify for CalFresh and yet too low to put enough food on the table to feed their families.

Without question, the pandemic has only exacerbated this issue. As recorded by California Food Banks, in April 2020, the percentage of food insecure families in San Mateo County was 15.7% and by October 2020, this number increased to 17.5%. This gap in qualifying for help then increases the burden on other food assistance programs, such as Samaritan House and Second Harvest.

CalFresh works to provide support to low-income Californians, providing monthly funds to purchase food on an EBT card. The amount of money varies based on the number of family members and monthly income. Those eligible are provided with an EBT card which can be used to purchase select groceries at participating stores such as Safeway, Amazon, and Walmart. It can be used to purchase necessities such as fruit and vegetables, meat and dairy, but cannot be used to purchase alcoholic beverages or prepared foods. CalFresh is one of the most used food assistance programs but it needs to reach a greater number of food insecure families than it currently helps. As stated by Get Healthy San Mateo County, “only about 3% (7,698) of households receive CalFresh while about 30% to 40% of residents are food insecure but ineligible for benefits. This is due to the difference in local self-sufficiency measures and the federal poverty line that qualifies people for programs.” With this gap between federal and county poverty lines, many food insecure households are left without aid yet ineligible for food assistance.

To mitigate this issue, we are proposing to amend CalFresh’s eligibility requirements. Instead of using the federal poverty line as a guideline, we believe it would be more accurate and beneficial for CalFresh to instead consider the county poverty line. This would better represent the actual need occurring in each local community and help deserving individuals and families who are falling through the program’s cracks. We feel it is necessary for all people, regardless of socioeconomic status, to familiarize themselves with this issue that likely affects their neighbors, coworkers and friends. We recognize this need, and hope to increase awareness and make real change in the lives of food insecure individuals across California.

Amelia Hernandez, Sophia Makarewycz and Ellie Roser are students at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo.