The Impact of the Food Stamp Program Compared to Food Closets in Sacramento County

Geography 350: Data Acquisition in GIS

Professor: Paul Veisze <veiszep@arc.losrios.edu>

Abstract

With the number of Food Stamp Program participants increasing every year, can it continue to help on its present course or is there another way to provide assistance through other means, such as community food banks and food closets?

Introduction

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or commonly as the Food Stamp Program, began on May 16, 1939 to provide food to low-to-no income people to United States residents. The U.S. Department of Agriculture administers the program, and every state is in charge of distributing the benefits.

The average national level of participation has increased from 2,878,000 in 1969 to 28,408,000 in 2008 (as of Nov. 18, 2008). The total costs of the program, including benefits; administration; etc., has also seen a large increase from $250,500,000 in 1969 to $37,524,200,000 in 2008 (USDA, 2008). To be eligible for the program, the household (also depending on the number of persons per) must have gross incomes of at most 130% of the federal poverty level.

2008 Federal Poverty Guidelines
Family Size	Fed Poverty Line	130% of FPL	185% of FPL
1	$10,400	$13,520	$19,240
2	$14,000	$18,200	$25,900
3	$17,600	$22,880	$32,560
4	$21,200	$27,560	$39,220

One of the many criticisms of the Food Stamp Program is that it isn't actually helping people. Many ideas have been suggested, such as rampant fraud among recipients using food stamps to buy alcohol and drugs (New York Times, 1995), recipients still aren't getting the recommended amount of daily calories that might lead to obesity and other health problems (Adams et al., 2003), and that the program radiates a stigma to the recipients that leads to low turnout among those eligible (Breunig and Dasgupta, 2003).

The federal government isn't the only entity that offers food assistance. Churches and other nonprofit organizations also offer programs via food banks and food closets to further aid those in need.

If there are so many problems and holes in the Food Stamp Program, do food banks simply supplement the needs of existing program recipients or do they complement the program by assisting those ineligible or otherwise not participating in it?

Background

In 2008, there were 257,737 persons eligible for the Food Stamp Program in Sacramento County. Of those, 54% or 139,178 persons did not participate (California Food Policy Advocates, 2008).

For a program that has existed since the Great Depression, it's hard to believe that those not participating haven't heard of food stamps. There are many factors that lead to such a large inactive percentage of eligible participants.

Could it be that Sacramento County doesn't want to spend the resources to publicize the program's benefits and actively get households onto the program? False. The CFPA estimates the county loses over $165 million of federal money to its underutilized food stamp program so it's in the county's best interest to maximize the program's usage.

Could it be that there's too much program abuse and that participants would rather use the money to buy alcohol and drugs? Maybe. There are instances of FSP abuse and other welfare fraud, but the problem appears to be more deeply rooted in the system (e.g. society) than simply the program itself (New York Times, 1995; Swan et al., 2008). With issues such as the program's link to obesity, ongoing class struggles, and possible mental health consequences related to the hunger (Adams, E.J. et al., 2003; Breunig, R. and I. Dasgupta, 2003; Heflin and Ziliak, 2008), is there an alternative to the FSP?

Churches and other nonprofit organizations run food bank and food closet programs to help not just the impoverished but also those in need. Household can fall outside of the FSP's poverty guidelines; yet still need as much assistance as those that do. Are these organizations providing better access and better equity than the FSP?

Note: As of June 2004, every state utilizes the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) system to allow recipients the use of a debit cards to make purchases at participating retailers, replacing the need for actual paper stamps (USDA, 2008).

Methods

To start, I needed data for FSP participation in Sacramento County. Using the Network for a Healthy California GIS Map Viewer provided by the California Department of Public Health, I was able to get maps of the number of FSP participants in Sacramento County for the 2007 fiscal year.

Below is a map of the median household income in Sacramento County (2000 U.S. Census).

I located the various foods banks and food closets within Sacramento County (Community Services Planning Council) and geocoded their addresses onto a map of Sacramento County (scroll down for map).

I then attempted to contact the food closets to find out their level of assistance (number of people requesting aid and level of aid in dollars). A good data value would be a number of estimated persons who come on a regular basis. The latter monetary value would be considered a stretch, even if estimated by the directors of their respective organization.

Results

Each food closet assists residents in specific, nearby areas. The areas are often broken down in single to multiple zip codes, while some even offer countywide coverage. The map below shows the coverage of all food closets within the county, with darker colors representing areas with overlap.

The map below shows the locations of food closets in relation to the number of families per household using 2000 U.S. Census data (ESRI, 2000).

Analysis

There is a correlation between the areas of high FSP participation, medium household income, and food closet locations, and the food closets currently exist where there is greater overall need.

But the simpler question is which service, FSP or food closets, offers better access to those in need. The EBT system allows FSP recipients to makes at participating retailers without the burden of using the traditional stamps, thereby alleviating the stigma associated with using food stamps and increasing the chances of recipients using them.

Since food closets depend mostly on donations, each location offers limited operating hours, limited aid, and limited coverage. Compared to the FSP, the level of access that food closets can generally provide is low.

But if a food closet works to simply offer as much aid as possible, then it serves its purpose. I attempted to survey food closets to get concrete data of their assistance levels and compare that to what the FSP offers. The surveys offered almost negative results. The limited hours meant that contacting them outside of those times resulted in unreturned voicemails.

The one organization I did manage to get hold of someone was for the Elk Grove Food Closet. I received a rough estimate of the organization having helped 38,000 people in 2007. Out of that, 80% or roughly 30,000 were regular recipients.

The official zip codes within Elk Grove city limits are 95624, 95757, and 95758. Within these zip codes, the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance states there were 10,827; 5,289; and 12,075 FSP cases in 2007 within these respective zip codes, to make 28,191 total (note: the CA Dept. of Public Health only has FSP data per census block group). It should be noted that a case could represent either one person or an entire household, leading to the possibility of actual higher individual participation totals.

According to a 2005-2007 U.S. Census survey, the city's total median household income was $81,893 (+/- $2,712).

The Elk Grove Food Closet also helps people from beyond the city limits, covering zip code areas 95693, 95759, 95823, and 95829. These areas had 615; 255; 52,896; and 5,255 respective cases totaling an additional 59,021 non-Elk Grove residents. The median household income for these respective zip codes were in 2000: $68,187; no data; $36,001; and $63,774.

Looking at the Elk Grove incorporated area the FSP and the Elk Grove Food Closet show similar assistance numbers; however, those numbers separate dramatically if trying to account for neighboring unincorporated residents.

Considering that it's the only food closet in the area, the Elk Grove Food Closet does a tremendous job helping as many people as it can, but nonetheless cannot offer the same access or reach more eligible residents the further out you offer assistance.

Conclusion

From the analysis on Elk Grove, there is a strong correlation between the number of Food Stamp Program cases and lower median household income. It's not a coincidence that there are many food closets located in northern Sacramento County where there also happens to be a larger percentage of low household incomes.

It would appear that food closets, based on location and assistance levels, actually supplement the Food Stamp Program. To complement the program, food closets would have to be located more systematically throughout the county and help out more people than there are FSP recipients. There is also the possibility that the cluster of food closets in northern Sacramento County could have possibly worked to better complement the FSP given the area's more concentrated coverage.

More data is needed from other food closets to support or contradict the findings in Elk Grove. It would also be helpful to get a more financial figure to the level of aid a food closet in order to better compare and contrast the FSP. The Elk Grove Food Closet mentioned their inability to gather such data, but I think it would be useful to conduct such an audit.

The placement of food closet locations also highlights the need to put supporting organizations where they can help people. Halfway houses and drug-rehab centers are often considered undesirable in any neighborhood, but in areas with high crime rates and high drug use where else would there be greater need?

Food Stamp Program in Sacramento County
Year	Total FS Cases	Total FS Recipients	Total FS Benefits
2008*	600,512	1,517,943	$170,862,105
2007	564,435	1,480,917	$155,634,263
2006	528,384	1,359,887	$139,798,901
2005	496,599	1,169,937	$107,412,988**
* Jan. through Nov. 2008		** From March through Dec. 2005
Source: Department of Human Assistance, Sacramento County

References

Adams, E.J. et al., 2003. Food Insecurity Is Associated with Increased Risk of Obesity in California Women. Journal of Nutrition, 133(4): 1070-1074.

Breunig, R. and I. Dasgupta, 2003. Are People Ashamed of Paying with Food Stamps? Journal of Agricultural Economics, 54(2): 203-225.

California Food Policy Advocates, 2008. Sacramento County Nutrition Profile. <http://www.cfpa.net/2008%20County%20Profiles/sacramento.pdf>.

"Dozens Are Arrested in Crackdown on Food Stamp Trafficking." New York Times [New York, N.Y.] 24 Sep. 1995, Late Edition (East Coast): 1.27.

Heflin, C.M. and J.P. Ziliak, 2008. Food Insufficiency, Food Stamp Participation, and Mental Health. Social Science Quarterly, 89(3): 706-727.

Swan, R.S. et al., 2008. The Untold Story of Welfare Fraud. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 35(3): 133-151.

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2008. The 2008 HHS Poverty Guidelines. Federal Register, 73(15): 3971-3972.

Resources

2-1-1 Sacramento. <http://www.211sacramento.org>

Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance. <http://dhaweb.saccounty.net> (A special thanks to Stephanie Knowles)

ESRI. U.S. Bureau of the Census' Census 2000 TIGER/Line Data. <http://www.esri.com/data/download/census2000_tigerline/index.html>

U.S. Census Bureau. <http://www.census.gov>