Food Insecurity Deepens in L.A. and O.C. as Costs Rise, Funding Falls

St. Irenaeus Health Ministry has opened a new food pantry at Mariners Church (2536 W. Woodland Dr., Anaheim, CA 92801), operating Mondays from 6:30–8:30 p.m. The pantry offers free food, including canned and dry goods, refrigerated and frozen items, bread, hygiene products, laundry detergent, and diapers for families with children. Pre-packed bags are available for unhoused individuals. All are welcome; no appointment needed.

September 22, 2025

By Laurie Hanson

Food insecurity has several underlying causes, which public policy officials and food bank administrators in Los Angeles and Orange County recognize.

Their familiarity with the reasons behind food insecurity informs their efforts to address and mitigate its effects within the community.

Managing Principal, 100 Mile Strategies LLC, and Visiting Fellow at George Mason University’s National Security Institute, Jeff Le, has more than 20 years of experience in public policy.

“Fundamentally, hunger in the United States is a public policy and economic market failure,” Le said. “More than 47 million Americans face some aspect of food insecurity, and one in five American children do not have access to healthy food and nutrition.”

“Fundamentally, the United States has experienced a cost-of-living and affordability crisis with more limited access to essentials and services,” he explained. “There is no specific silver bullet to help with these growing challenges, especially with decreased federal funding and disinvestments in the social safety net. Added constraints to access support after the recent budget reconciliation will add further pressure.”

The 2023 official poverty rate in the United States was over 11 percent, with almost 37 million people living in poverty. During this same period, the federal minimum wage of $7.25 has not been changed since 2009, and the U.S. dollar is at its weakest in over 50 years, according to Le.

“With inflation, unemployment, and barriers to transportation, affordable housing, and limited access to health care, hunger is also prevalent and can be found in every American county regardless of wealth and resources,” he added.

Aggravating the situation is the fact that in our post-pandemic era, the cost of food has simply skyrocketed, causing greater food insecurity among many more people.

“While the figures for 2025 have not been released, the 2023 figures point to almost 14 percent of American households living in some food insecurity,” Le said. “With the reductions in funding – More for food assistance and decreased funding for food banks in the recent budget reconciliation, I expect these figures to increase for 2025.”

He went on to say that some of the increased food costs are due to inflation with the disruptions in supply chains and logistics impacting freshness, access, and predictability.

“Growing trade talk tensions between the United States, China, Mexico, and Canada have put strain on vegetables and fruit,” he added. “This has led to some increases in grocery bills, by as much as 20 percent, and potential reductions in serving sizes. More marginalized and poorer communities have been impacted more due to already pre-existing food deserts now having to raise prices on scarcer food.”

Hunger impacts every community and every county in the United States, especially rural communities, Native Americans, single-parent family units, and Black and Latino groups and those with pre-existing food deserts/food bank closures. Growing climate uncertainty has also exacerbated the food crisis as the Federal Government evaluates its response to disaster mitigation like the California wildfires. Unaddressed animal diseases, such as avian flu earlier this year, are still impacting poultry and egg production. Immigration enforcement in agriculture has also reduced workforce availability, according to Le.

“The California agriculture sector is the country’s national leader in production, with almost $60 billion in annual market value,” he said. “But the workforce that supports the sector is more than 75 percent undocumented. Many rely on migrant labor without access to visas and have faced growing ICE actions to fulfill the President’s migrant arrest daily quotas.”

“Labor shortages were already felt during and after the pandemic,” Le added. “The further closing of the border and improved economic conditions in Mexico has meant farms have had to raise their wages to be competitive. But immigration enforcement has led to fewer laborers, somewhere between decreases of 20 to 35 percent with impacts on costs, not including [other factors like] tariffs, uncertainty, and supply chain vulnerabilities.”

“The budget reconciliation bill significantly reduced food assistance and SNAP funding by the tune of almost $190 billion over 10 years,” he said. “The impact on local and county governments as well as nonprofits, civic groups, and community-based organizations, and the shuttering of poverty alleviation entities, including food banks, will have an impact on hunger for the foreseeable future.”

SNAP eligibility now includes expanded work requirements for adults aged 54 to 64, as well as veterans and people experiencing chronic homelessness. States must also cover up to 25 percent more of the cost-share with the federal government for payment errors, according to Le.

According to Feeding America, more than 5 million Californians—including one in six children—face food insecurity. Now food banks are facing cuts as a result of the big bombastic bill.

“For many states in deficit, this has become a major budget struggle,” he said. “Larger blue states, such as California, will likely have to cover even more, possibly over $2 billion in a state coming off a recent budget deficit. The range of those seeing reduced coverage according to the Congressional Budget Office range from three to six million adults and one million children.”

Feeding America estimates that over 5 million Californians, or about 1 in 7 people, including 1 in 6 children—face food insecurity. Cuts to SNAP particularly affect children, who receive nearly half of all household benefits.

According to the 2023 USC Dornsife study, more than 2 in 5 families in L.A. County experience food insecurity. Thisis likely underestimated as L.A. County has had challenges in expanding food access pre-pandemic and struggles with the cost of living. Black and Latino families, along with veterans, have seen growing concerns.

In Orange County, the O.C. Hunger Alliance found that food insecurity has grown to almost 14 percent. Feeding America’s 2023 report estimated that almost 360,000 people experience hunger.

According to Le, some things can be done to mitigate hunger, including expanding school nutrition to include summerwhile improving the quality of school meals. Other things include mobile food pantries to bridge food deserts and hard-to-access communities and CMS reforms to add more coverage for healthcare patients with more prescriptions designed to decrease physical ailments. But he says these things are unlikely to happen in the near-term, both at the federal and state levels of government.

“Globally more can be done to invest in stronger supply chains and agricultural systems to strengthen food access, but that requires further global economic certainty,” Le added. “Potentially the deployment of frontier technology and AI software could help improve analytics and data to help inform policymakers of reforms and opportunities to help combat hunger, but this requires significant investments of time and political capital.”

For Michael Flood, President and CEO of L.A. Regional Food Bank and 25-year veteran in the field, hunger remains a growing problem, particularly in L.A. County, where rates significantly outpace both state and national averages. The most recent local data available for food insecurity indicates that one in four L.A. County residents experience food insecurity.

Although 2025 food insecurity data is unavailable, demand for food assistance has risen due to tariffs and inflation, according to Flood.

“Numerous families are experiencing a challenging confluence of displacement and income reduction,” he explained. “The wildfires affected not only individuals who lost their homes and businesses but also numerous communities across Los Angeles County, resulting in a ripple effect.”

“The Food Bank has experienced an increase in demand for food assistance in 2025, and we have received significant support from donors locally, throughout California, and nationally to help in our response to wildfires earlier in the year,” he added. “No doubt that inflation and the local high cost of living are also factors in the increase in demand.”

The ripple effects of the wildfires on the local economy have been a significant driver in the demand for food assistance. Most of the L.A. Food Bank’s food is donated, so while inflation does impact their operations, it is more distressing to the people they serve, who may struggle to pay for basic needs.

“The Food Bank and its network of partner agencies have reached more than 1 million people throughout L.A. County on a monthly basis since January and expect the demand for food assistance to remain at an elevated level for the next several months,” Flood said.

In L.A. County, high housing and living costs are forcing more working families to seek food assistance. Despite slower inflation, prices remain high, leading many residents to rely on food banks and nutrition programs.

With high housing costs, low wages relative to the cost of living, and limited access to affordable basic needs, families are forced to make impossible choices between rent, health care, transportation, and food. Statewide and nationally, these same dynamics are compounded by income inequality, racial and geographic disparities, and gaps in the safety net that leave too many neighbors behind, according to Flood.

“At the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, we see firsthand that hunger in Los Angeles County (and across the nation) is being driven by a combination of persistent economic challenges, – More – primarily the high cost of living and the cumulative impact of inflation,” he explained. “We are not sure what will happen once [SNAP] cuts take place.”

Housing, childcare, transportation, and healthcare costs are increasing faster than wages for many families in Los Angeles County and elsewhere. Even with multiple incomes, households struggle to get by, so they often reduce grocery spending first when money is tight.

“Many of our neighbors hold steady jobs but are not earning enough to cover basic necessities,” Flood added. “Inflation in recent years has widened this gap, leaving more people (including working parents and seniors on fixed incomes) relying on food assistance to bridge the gap.”

Seniors, children, and individuals in under-resourced communities are especially affected. Many older adults must choose between medication and food, while children without reliable nutrition face academic and health challenges.

“People from all walks of life face food or nutrition insecurity,” he explained. “About 1 in 4 kids live in food-insecure households, and many older adults on fixed incomes must choose between food, rent, or medication. Nationally, these same groups are at higher risk, with communities of color and immigrant households also disproportionately impacted.”

“Most of the impacts of changes to benefits programs, such as SNAP, are yet to be seen, but we do expect these changes will lead to more people seeking food assistance,” Flood said.

“As a nonprofit organization, we rely on the generosity of our community,” he said. “All nonprofits, including the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, seek donors and volunteers who can help us advance our mission. At the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, we are committed to both approaches. We help provide nutritious food resources while working with partners and our communities to create a future where no one in our community goes hungry.”

“Regardless of what happens, the L.A. Regional Food Bank stands strong in the fight against hunger,” Flood said. “Anyone who would like to help us achieve our vision that no one goes hungry in L.A. County can visit LAFoodBank.org to learn how to volunteer or donate. Anyone seeking food or nutrition assistance can visit LAFoodBank.org/findfood.

For Claudia Bonilla Keller, CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, who has dedicated 20 years to the industry, including five years with the organization, she remains steadfast in her commitment to ending hunger.

“Food insecurity affects all ages,” she said. “Without consistent access to nutritious food, children and teens are not able to focus in school, and there can be an impact on other areas of development as well. Further, adults may also lack the focus needed to succeed at work. Older adults may experience health impacts as well without proper nutrition.”

She says the rate of food insecurity is growing faster in Orange County than in the rest of California, and it is driven by continued high food, fuel, and housing costs. This aligns with the new national statistic from an Associated Press poll in July: “Almost 90 percent of Americans are worried about the price of groceries.”

“About 13 percent of our L.A. and O.C. community members are food insecure and about 1.7 million households in L.A. and O.C. face food insecurity,” Keller said.

In Orange County, 1 in 9 people—including 1 in 8 children—are food insecure, an increase from 1 in 10 individuals last year.

From 2021 to 2023, the O.C. saw a 34.6 percent increase in food insecurity among individuals and a 34.9 percent increase in food insecurity among O.C. children. These local statistics are from Feeding America’s “Map the Meal Gap” survey, which is issued each May.

Every month Second Harvest provides food for an average of 458,995 individuals, which is almost double pre-pandemic levels (249,000 individuals served per month).

“We know that more people are food insecure now than they were a year ago, particularly in Orange County,” she said.

Federal funding cuts are reducing resources for programs that food banks like Second Harvest rely on to buy nutritious food. Cuts to SNAP/CalFresh will also raise demand at food banks.

With the high cost of living, rising housing costs, and food inflation driving hunger locally and across the nation, these growing needs present an opportunity to evolve, according to Keller.

“Second Harvest has evolved by intentionally sourcing nutritious food and growing it at Harvest Solutions Farm, Second Harvest’s partnership with Solutions for Urban Agriculture and University of California’s South Coast Research & Extension Center,” she explained.

“Second Harvest is striving to diversify its sources of food to provide nutritious food to the community, including growing our own produce at our farm partnerships and fully leveraging our grocery rescue partnerships with local grocery store chains,” Keller said.

“We procure food largely through bulk donation, grocery rescue, and even growing it at our collaborative Farm programs, which are quite unique for a Food Bank,” she added. “At 40 acres, Harvest Solutions Farm is an innovative component of the Food Bank’s strategy to provide food and nutritional security for all in Orange County.”

Four years ago, Second Harvest began working with Solutions for Urban Agriculture and UC’s South Coast Research & Extension Center, improving operations during the pandemic, and helping address food price increases and supply chain issues. The Food Bank grows a range of seasonal crops, such as cabbage, butternut squash, and broccoli in cooler months, and peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, and even watermelon in the summer.

In 2024, more than 2 million pounds of nutritious produce, equivalent to 50 truckloads, were harvested at Harvest Solutions Farm. Since the Farm’s inception in August 2021, they have harvested almost eight million pounds of fresh produce, according to Keller.

Other local Feeding America food banks include Feeding America Riverside and San Bernardino Counties and the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Second Harvest provides free food to 286 partners, who distribute it at 381 community sites.

“Last year alone Second Harvest’s fleet drove 208,000 miles to reach these partners – that’s equivalent to driving around the globe over eight times,” she added. “Second Harvest also encourages these partners to consider a ‘choice model’ – like a grocery shopping trip in which community members pick the items that appeal to them.”

For food assistance in L.A. or O.C. Counties, dial 2-1-1 or visit www.foodpantries.org for local resources.

 St. Irenaeus Health Ministry has opened a new food pantry at Mariners Church (2536 W. Woodland Dr., Anaheim, CA 92801), operating Mondays from 6:30–8:30 p.m. The pantry offers free food, including canned and dry goods, refrigerated and frozen items, bread, hygiene products, laundry detergent, and diapers for families with children. Pre-packed bags are available for unhoused individuals. All are welcome; no appointment needed.