On April 24th, four New York City mayoral candidates participated in a live virtual forum on Hunger, Poverty and Food Policy, hosted by a number of anti-hunger and food policy organizations. The candidates who participated in that online forum were: Michael Blake, Brad Lander, Zellnor Myrie, and Scott Stringer.

Hunger and food insecurity affect millions of New Yorkers every day, with more than 4.6 million NYC residents—56% of the population—living in or near poverty, and 1.2 million people in our city currently struggling with hunger and food insecurity. NY1’s Errol Louis moderated the forum, which can be viewed HERE. Questions addressed topics such as universal free school meals, SNAP benefit restrictions, the actions of ICE in our city schools, streamlining the benefits application process, and more.

On the issue of benefits access, all of the candidates expressed dismay at the city’s lack of progress on the MyCity portal, which was supposed to allow New Yorkers to apply for multiple benefits at once online, but has so far cost the city $100 million with little to show for it. “You can use your phone to track a meal, to book a flight…but right now we’re not utilizing it to help you get the services that you need,” said Blake.

Louis asked each of the candidates about the pervasive problem of late payments to nonprofits who help administer services to needy New Yorkers. Myrie said, “there have to be consequences for the city not paying it, there has to be transparency for this, and we’ve got to look at all of the current, existing contracts, and see where there is room for reform.” Once again there was broad agreement that the city needs to do a much better job when it comes to paying organizations that do work for the city.

The forum also broached the topic of immigration enforcement in our city schools, with Stringer saying, “we know there are kids who are not showing up to class because a parent’s afraid never to see them again, or a child who is afraid to lose a parent. This is the worst crisis we face from our federal government in generations.” An 8th grade student named Roston Willingham also submitted a question to each of the candidates on possible funding cuts for free school meals. All of the candidates expressed support for funding of free school breakfast and free school lunch for all students.

On the topic of possible restrictions on SNAP purchases, Lander said, “I believe in robust efforts at education, and sometimes incentives for people to do things that are healthy, but not restrictions on what people can buy with their food stamps.” In recent weeks there has been much discussion about the federal government’s efforts to allow states to limit what kinds of foods can be purchased with SNAP benefits. While any changes to current restrictions would require congressional approval, some states have already begun applying for “waivers” to limit SNAP purchases.

New York City’s next mayor will face a slew of challenges when they take office, including a surging hunger and poverty crisis, and massive funding cuts by the federal government. Already the USDA has cut a billion dollars of funding to purchase food from local farmers for schools and food banks. And just last month, the US House passed a Budget Reconciliation package that would slash the main U.S. domestic food assistance program by $300 billion in order to pay for a new round of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. The cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – formerly called the Food Stamp Program – would reduce benefits for all 41 million participants in the program, the vast majority of whom are children, working people, seniors, people with disabilities, and veterans.

Even with SNAP funding, those who are most in need don’t always receive help. In New York City, hundreds of thousands of residents eligible for federally funded benefits do not receive them. As for federally funded WIC benefits (for pregnant women and children under five), as of 2021, USDA estimated that a whopping 47 percent of those eligible for WIC statewide did not get it. Unlike SNAP, WIC has no immigration restrictions in the program and has slightly higher income eligibility than SNAP, so this under-participation in WIC is especially harmful. The percentages are likely even higher for the City than the State.

While funding for these programs comes primarily from the federal government, there are steps city leadership can take to address hunger in our city:

  • Increase funding to nonprofit groups that help New Yorkers access government food benefits through the NYC Benefits program and direct City Council funding.
  • Accelerate the City’s promised work to create a MyCity portal to allow application for multiple benefits.
  • Urge the State to end the sub-minimum wage for tipped food service workers.
  • Enact and fund a SNAP-like program, to be funded by the City, to give extra grocery funds to immigrants and working poor New Yorkers who are ineligible for federal SNAP benefits. California recently started such a program.
  • Ensure that all classes in all New York City public schools provide either in-classroom school breakfasts or grab and go breakfast in their hallways. Currently, New York City has the lowest school breakfast participation rate out of any big city school system in the United States, with 55.4 percent of kids who get school lunches failing to get school breakfasts.
  • Work with nonprofit groups to launch a comprehensive outreach and enrollment campaign to ensure robust participation in the new Summer EBT program, which provides money for school children to eat in the summer months.

Hunger is a nationwide epidemic, but the next mayor of New York City will have an opportunity to tackle hunger and food insecurity within the five boroughs. When New Yorkers head to the polls next month, it’s important that they understand the challenges we face, and where the candidates stand on these vital issues.

The forum was hosted by CUNY’s Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy and co-sponsored by Chilis on Wheels, City Harvest, Coalition for Healthy School Food, Community Food Advocates, Community Service Society, Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA), CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, Equity Advocates, Feeding New York State, Food Bank For New York City, FWPA, Hunger Free America, Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, New York Common Pantry, Project Hospitality, Swipe Out Hunger, United Way of New York City, Wellness in the Schools, and West Side Campaign Against Hunger.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kim Moscaritolo currently serves as the State Policy Director at Hunger Free America, monitoring federal policy changes affecting New York’s food safety net. Prior to working at Hunger Free America, Kim worked in television news. She began her career as a Video Journalist for CNN, and more recently worked as a Technical Production Manager at Bloomberg News. In her spare time, she volunteers for local political campaigns and runs Yorkville Buy Local, an initiative focused on promoting and protecting local small businesses.