November 18, 2011
Oregonians top the nation for food stamp use, new Census data shows
A greater share of Oregonians depend on food stamps to get by than in any other state, U.S. Census data released Thursday show. Nearly 18 percent of the state's residents said in a 2010 survey that they had relied on the federal program sometime in the previous 12 months.
Food stamp use in Oregon surged 23 percent last year, vaulting the state to first in the nation. In 2009, six other states had rates the same or higher than here.
"This is one of those leadership positions I don't think anyone wanted to see," said Gene Evans, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Human Services. "The numbers are huge in Oregon. I think everybody knows somebody who is either working fewer hours or working fewer days or lost their job. There are lots of families depending on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) to keep their kids fed."
The statistics back up what Jean DeMaster, who heads the nonprofit social services agency Human Solutions, has witnessed for months.
"The change I see is that when people come here, they are more desperate, they have exhausted all of their resources, and they don't know what they are going to do," she said. "It's that kind of desperation that I am seeing much more often than I used to."
DeMaster said one program she depends on to feed homeless families has for the last year run out of food by the middle of the month.
Nationally, 13.6 million households received food stamp in 2010, according to the Census. Tennessee and Michigan also logged high rates, while California, New Jersey and Wyoming showed the lowest rates.
Oregon's numbers jibe with other statistics showing a state that continues to suffer some of the worst effects of the recession. The charity Feeding America this year named Oregon the first in the nation for childhood hunger. From 2007 to 2010, 120,000 additional Oregonians fell below the poverty line, according to the Oregon Center for Public Policy, with 15.8 percent of the state's residents counted among the poor.
"We're seeing people who have never come to the state for any kind of assistance, who've never stepped foot in a DHS office," said Evans. "And they are having a hard time with that fact. For a lot of people, it is quite a change. It is heartbreaking."
The average family benefit is just $240, Evans said, because most recipients are working but not making enough to get by.
It doesn't appear that 2011 has been any better.
A total of 788,799 Oregonians received food stamps this year, a 7 percent increase from 2010 and a 60 percent increase from July 2008.
Jean Kempe-Ware, Oregon Food Bank spokeswoman, said the numbers could work to ensure that people who are eligible for food stamps sign up. They "could be reflecting that those efforts are working," she said.
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