Not Home. Come Home.

Imagine getting your paycheck. It’s just barely enough to cover your rent and all the bills, including groceries. But then someone gets sick, and needs a doctor visit and a prescription. Or, your only car breaks down and needs to be repaired so that you can get to your job. Suddenly there isn’t quite enough money after all. What usually happens in this scenario?

People are more likely to cut back on negotiables such as the grocery bill, in order to make sure they can still pay the rent – and this is how marginal food insecurity begins. Becoming food-insecure is like an alarm: someone is approaching the edge of homelessness, but has not necessarily crossed that line. 

Food insecurity and poverty are not the same. Data from the USDA indicate that most people living in poverty are actually food secure, and the majority of people facing hunger live above the federal poverty line ($31,200 for a family of four in the U.S., as of January 2024).

Food-insecure households are sometimes able to make it through rough patches by eating less varied diets, participating in federal food assistance programs, or getting food from community food pantries.

Of course, none of these statistics account for the quality of food. In industrialized nations, cheap food is often unhealthy, overly-processed food.  Obesity rates and other chronic health issues often go hand-in-hand with food insecurity in the West.