Cars lined Van Dyke Avenue in City Heights on Thursday afternoon as hundreds of people waited to pick up supplies through the House of Praise Church’s food distribution program.
Some drivers turned off their engines while waiting in the intense sun. Dozens of people on foot lined up along El Cajon Boulevard, ready to fill their baskets and carts with much-needed groceries for the week.
“If it weren’t for this help, what would become of us?” said Blanca Blanco, 64, while waiting.
The need for food assistance has grown steadily over the past year, as rising food, utility and transportation costs push more San Diegans to seek help from food banks and other nonprofit organizations. The San Diego Hunger Coalition estimates that more than a quarter of San Diego residents are food insecure.
Now, looming changes to the eligibility criteria for CalFresh—California’s version of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as “food stamps”—threaten to leave more San Diegans hungry and dependent on local aid.
Starting April 1, many legal immigrants — including asylum seekers, refugees, survivors of human trafficking, many Iraqis and Afghans with special immigrant visas, and other immigrants who were previously eligible for CalFresh under humanitarian protections — will no longer be eligible for this federally funded food assistance program.
And on June 1, new work and volunteer requirements will go into effect, requiring most adults to work at least 80 hours a month to qualify for CalFresh.
The House of Praise Church is already having a hard time feeding all the people who need their help.
“We don’t have enough food,” said David Villalobos, a pastor who leads the twice-weekly distribution with food from Feeding San Diego and the San Diego Food Bank. “We will definitely see more people reach out.”
For some, the changes will not take effect immediately. Affected CalFresh participants will be able to use their benefits until they are recertified, which typically occurs every 12 months.
In the long run, however, the repercussions could be overwhelming for many of the nearly 400,000 San Diego residents who rely on CalFresh benefits.
San Diego County officials estimate that up to 13,000 CalFresh participants will lose their eligibility due to the April 1 changes, and another 93,500 will lose their benefits once the June 1 requirements take effect.
The changes are due to the federal law known as HR 1, signed last July, which limits federally funded benefits for several immigrant groups and low-income people.
“It didn’t have to be this way,” said Shawn VanDiver, founder of AfghanEvac, a San Diego-based group that helps resettle Afghans who collaborated with the United States in the Afghanistan war.
“The (Trump) administration wanted to make life difficult for immigrants and refugees,” he said. “It is unnecessarily cruel.”
With the number of people eligible for CalFresh shrinking, food banks anticipate a spike in demand that could strain their resources.
In fact, they are already seeing an increase in the number of federal employees turning to local food assistance, both before and during the current partial government shutdown, and months after last year’s broader shutdown paralyzed the payment of wages for thousands of workers.
Villalobos is among those workers.
Although he directs food distribution at his church, he also works as an inspection supervisor at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at the San Diego airport, and has been working without pay for more than a month. He has three children—including a five-month-old baby—and has begun collecting food himself from church deliveries.
Local nonprofit organizations, such as the San Diego Food Bank and Feeding San Diego, have been preparing to meet the demand.
Sam Duke, program director for Feeding San Diego, has seen an increase in the number of beneficiaries at food distribution sites in Escondido, the South Bay area and in the more urban areas of the east of the county. The organization works collaboratively with its partners – including the county administration – and its food supply team to provide sustenance to areas with the greatest needs.
For its part, the San Diego Food Bank—which serves about 411,000 people a month—has begun purchasing more food to specifically target nonprofits and neighborhoods that need it most; These areas include City Heights, Mission Valley and Poway. The institution also offers assistance with rent payment and job placement; Likewise, beneficiaries have the opportunity to volunteer at the food bank, and the hours dedicated to this can be counted towards meeting the eligibility requirements of the CalFresh program.
“When someone comes to us for food, there’s a good chance they’re struggling in other areas of their life,” said Casey Castillo, executive director of the San Diego Food Bank. “We are happy to act as that trusted source able to connect that person – or that family – with other resources they may need.”
Residents not only face difficulties when it comes to food. They say the cost of basic expenses has become unsustainable, and the spike in gasoline prices — stemming from the United States’ war with Iran — is leading many to wonder how they will be able to afford their essential needs. Added to this is the uncertainty that already weighed on CalFresh benefits, given that the partial federal government shutdown last fall caused delays in the delivery of these benefits.
But for many San Diego residents, CalFresh could be the answer, says Alondra Alvarado, president and CEO of the San Diego Hunger Coalition.
Many San Diegans may qualify for CalFresh but are not enrolled, he noted. His organization has noted that nearly 25,000 people have dropped out of the program over the past year; According to Alvarado, this could be due to fear—especially in immigrant communities—of accepting federal benefits.
The Hunger Coalition has provided training to local hunger relief organizations on the changes to CalFresh. However, it has also focused on enrolling more people, considering that this program continues to be the best tool to combat hunger in San Diego County.
“If we can enroll everyone who is eligible for CalFresh into the program, we can alleviate some of the burden currently placed on food banks.” commented Alvarado. “This way, we will be able to reserve food assistance for those people who will no longer be able to participate in CalFresh.”
Original Story
‘We don’t have enough food’: Providers brace for thousands of San Diegans to lose SNAP benefits
