Hawaiʻi food insecurity persists post COVID-19

At the height of the COVID- 19 pandemic, Hawaiʻi faced one of the country’s highest unemployment rates, leading to long lines of cars at food banks and food pantries.

But while the long lines have gone, food insecurity remains.

“Even though we don’t see it on the front pages as much anymore, the issue is still there, and we have not returned to pre-pandemic rates of food insecurity,” said Daniela Spoto, director of Anti-Hunger Initiatives for the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice, during Wednesday’s discussion.

The sustained level of food insecurity in Hawaiʻi results from a variety of factors, mostly the isles’ high cost of living, inflation rates and other reasons that make it “hard to afford a healthy life.”

Spoto said food insecurity can be “invisible” and not as obvious as simply going without food.

“In some cases, it looks like just buying the cheapest food that’s out there, filling up on empty calories—instant Ramen, Spam, anything you can buy at the convenience store,” she said.

Many Hawaiʻi households experiencing food insecurity include working families. About 30 percent of the households Hawaiʻi Foodbank serves have employed individuals, Marvin said, but the cost of living in Hawaiʻi is just too much to overcome. She said the cost of groceries grew about 25 percent between February 2020 and February 2023.

“These are families that have always been able to make ends meet,” she said. “Every month our numbers are ticking up, and we’re seeing people who have never had to ask for help before.”

There is now more of an effort to stop trying to “feed the need,” Spoto said, and instead there’s more focus on helping Hawaiʻi families afford healthy food.

“One of the things that I think is really exciting is that, for the first time, the anti-hunger community in Hawaiʻi has really been looking more at anti-poverty measures,” she said.

Spoto mentioned ambitious measures introduced in this year’s legislative session that would have supported those efforts, including universal lunches for all public school students in Hawaiʻi and funding for food programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and for DA BUX. Both bills died during the session but have at least made the issue talking points at the state Capitol, she said.