As Feds Slash Food Aid, Sup. Preston Calls on State to Support Residents in Face of Hunger Cliff

SAN FRANCISCO — In response to the impending hunger cliff caused by emergency CalFresh benefits expiring, Supervisor Dean Preston introduced a resolution today urging the California State Legislature to act quickly and provide supplemental CalFresh benefits to keep households fed.

“In a state with an economy as large as California’s, there is no reason that any person, especially children and seniors, should go hungry,” said Preston. “San Franciscans are still recovering from living under three years of Covid, and the government should be stepping up to help those most vulnerable, not cutting these essential programs.”

Roughly 100,000 San Francisco residents received emergency CalFresh benefits since Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act in March 2020, which increased food security during the early days of the pandemic. With the emergency allotments ending, the SF Human Services Agency estimates that on average households in San Francisco will see a reduction of $160/month, and thousands of people will see their benefits dwindle down to just $23/month, at a time of increasing food costs and rising inflation rates.

California’s Department of Social Services is directing CalFresh recipients to reach out to their local food banks to help fill the gap left by the benefits reduction. The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank serves 56,000 unique households each week, an increase from 32,000 households pre-pandemic. There are currently 2,200 households on waitlists to enroll in one of the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank Pop-Up pantries, and another 400 on waitlists at community partner agencies.

“The entire community is going to be affected when these benefits end,” said Cheryl Shanks, a senior living in the Tenderloin. “Stores and restaurants that accept food stamps will lose money, crime will go up as people who don’t normally steal will be forced to so they can eat, and people are going to go unhoused because they’ll use their rent money so their kids don’t go hungry. They are creating a crisis by ending these emergency benefits.”

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