The number of Alexandria residents facing food insecurity is rising.
That’s according to the Capital Area Food Bank’s (CAFB) Hunger Report 2024, which revealed that food insecurity is a growing issue throughout the D.C. Metro area.
The percentage of food insecure Alexandria residents increased to 36% this year, up from 31% in 2022 and 2023. The report also revealed that 7% of Alexandria children, about 2,000 kids, are food insecure.
“Even as the strong economy continues to make headlines, data from over 3,800 households across the DMV suggests that things are not getting better,” the report said. “(T)he number of people seeking help has been climbing higher. Last fiscal year, CAFB distributed the food for 64 million meals – more than double its pre-pandemic levels, and five million more than the year prior.“
Food insecurity rose to 37% across in all surveyed jurisdictions, up from 32% in 2023 and 33% in 2022. The report surveyed more than 3,800 residents throughout the region, and food insecurity also rose in the District, Fairfax County, Prince William County, Prince George’s County and Montgomery County.
“The staggering numbers in this year’s report quantify what we’ve been seeing and hearing from our community for many months,” said CAFB President Radha Muthiah. “Things cost more, wages haven’t kept up, and most of the government supports that helped people weather the financial storms of the last several years are gone.”
Muthiah continued, “The economic gains that so many of us have read about simply aren’t being felt equally. Reversing this growth in food insecurity and inequity so that more of our neighbors can thrive must be a priority for all of us – everyone has a role to play in addressing this large but ultimately very solvable problem.”
The rising cost of living is also a contributing factor, and noted that 76% of the food insecure population is employed.
According to the report:
In 2023, the Capital Area Food Bank found that one-fifth of households making the median income of $120,000 in Greater Washington were food insecure. This finding contributed to the growing body of evidence that the cost of living in this region, as in many other urban areas, is dramatically out of alignment with wages for many.
…In every county, no less than 23% of residents struggled to access enough to eat.
Beyond the many positive macroeconomic headlines of the last year, there are enormous numbers of our neighbors experiencing a different reality:a staggering 37% of residents – 5 percentage points higher than last year – didn’t know where their next meal would come from at some point over the past 12 months.
CAFB recommended the following short and long-term strategies:
- Maintain and strengthen federal programs that support food security
- Adopt state-level policies that expand food access
- Support programs and policies that address economic hardship holistically
- Invest in upskilling the food insecure population
- Increase the accessibility of the emergency food assistance network
