Hawaiʻi’s food insecurity an urgent problem

Well before COVID-19, Hawaiʻi was seeing a rising need for assistance. In recent years, the Hawaiʻi Foodbank has estimated one in five residents were in need during the year, with many households choosing between paying for food and paying for rent or medicine and medical care.

Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, which started distributing keiki grab-and-go meals when schools were shuttered after spring break, points to pre-coronavirus data gauging 40 percent of that expansive coast as food insecure.

And a recent report focused on kūpuna hunger, issued by the nonprofit Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice, placed food insecurity in the state’s age 60-and-older group at between 5 percent and nearly 10 percent—estimating that at least 16,700 seniors here are at risk of going hungry. An estimated 70 percent of Hawaiʻi seniors are eligible to enroll in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Hawaiʻi’s post-pandemic recovery likely will be in progress for years. Lawmakers and others should be taking a hard look at short-term fixes as well as long-term solutions for food insecurity.