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Teresa Diehl

Dr. Fowler

PS 1010

29 March 2017

Policy Paper

According to Public Problems and Policy Alternatives, the beginning of any policy

starts with a description of the problem that needs to be fixed and analyzing it so as to find the

most effective solution (Kraft and Furlong). In this case, the problem being analyzed is food

insecurity in the city of Detroit. Part of defining this problem includes defining what food

insecurity is and what makes someone qualify as food insecure. Once a clear definition was

established, a policy, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, was able to

provide those suffering from food insecurity with government assistance to attempt to eliminate

the ongoing problem of food security in our country.

Being food insecure means that a household struggles to afford an adequate diet and

therefore may have to skip meals or eat less expensive and often less nutritious food. There are

approximately 48 million people in the United States who suffer from food insecurity and they

can be found in virtually every county (Waxman). To illustrate this problem and its causes, the

city of Detroit will be analyzed. The number of food insecure people in the counties that

comprise the Detroit Metropolitan following the Great Recession in 2009 reached 23.8% in

Wayne County, 15.3% in Oakland County, and 17.7% in Macomb County (Danziger). Food

insecurity can result from a number of reasons. When the economy is not doing well, people

become more at risk of becoming food insecure. This is because families may be forced to
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budget their money more tightly and thus have to make sacrifices including skipping meals or

eating less. Beyond that, there are certain areas in our nation that are considered food deserts.

A food desert can be defined as areas where there are no easily accessible grocery stores

(Polson). In these cases there are so few grocery stores within the city that people are forced to

rely on convenience stores to buy a bulk of their food. At these convenience stores there is hardly

any fresh foods and if there is, it tends to be significantly more expensive. Because of this,

people are more likely to buy processed food that is less nutritious and cheaper.

The United States government has attempted to combat the problem of food insecurity

through policies, one such policy is known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

(SNAP), previously known as food stamps. Food stamp programs have been around since the

late 1930s. However, the first program approved by the federal government came in 1961 when

President Kennedy signed an executive order to start a food stamp pilot program. Three years

later, President Johnson signed the Food Stamp Act of 1964, making the food stamp program

permanent. By 1974 the program had expanded to all 50 states. In 1977, President Carter

established national standards for eligibility. There were two opposing bills when Carter did this,

one from the Republicans and one from the Democrats. The Republican bill wanted to address

only the neediest, tightening government control of the program, and simplifying the

administration. The Democratic bill, on the other hand, focused on making the process faster so

that those in need could receive their benefits more quickly, reducing errors, and eliminating

abuse. Ultimately, the bill that was put in place resembled the Democratic bill. The program

modernized in 1984 by switching to Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards for transactions.

This was beneficial because by eliminating the paper coupons it helped to reduce the chance of
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them being lost, sold, or stolen. Finally in 2008, the program was renamed to what it now goes

by, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Supplemental Nutrition).

SNAP helps millions of low income families meet their nutritional needs (Supplemental

Nutrition). It is the largest domestic hunger safety net program and in the 2016 fiscal year

$70,867 million was appropriated to support it. SNAP successfully provides families who meet

requirements with EBT cards to help pay for their nutritional needs. In order to qualify for

SNAP, a households gross income must fall below 130% of the federal poverty line. During the

2016 fiscal year, 44.2 million individuals in 21.8 million households participated in the program

monthly. On average, the benefits for these people were $126 per month (United States).

In my opinion SNAP is working to help those who are suffering from food insecurity by

providing them with EBT so they can purchase food. Like any government program, though,

SNAP has received some backlash and is far from perfect. Historically, it has been Conservatives

who tend to oppose the SNAP program. They argue that it costs too much money and encourages

people to become dependent on the government. However, a report from the White House

Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) found that SNAP has produced positive improvements for

families receiving benefits, especially among children. Childrens health and education were

both improved thanks to SNAP which in the long run is improving our future (FACT SHEET).

Opposition also points out the 10.6 million people who do not meet the requirements for SNAP

yet still suffer from food insecurity (Waxman). While I agree that this is an unsettling fact, this

does not belittle the fact that SNAP is helping 44.2 million other people (United States). Another

flaw of SNAP that opposers point out is that there are no limits on the kind of food you can buy

with EBT so people can abuse the system and use it to buy food with no nutritional value such as
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candy and soda. Elaine Waxman and Alexandra Tilsley, members of the Urban Institute think

tank, refuted this argument. They mentioned how obesity and poor diet is a systemic issue in the

United States and is not directly related to SNAP users. Also, while the food users buy is not

tracked, there is data from Walmart, which is one of the most frequented stores by SNAP

benefitters, that indicates the most bought items are bananas, whole milk, ramen noodles, and hot

dogs. While these may not be the most nutritious, they definitely hold more value than those who

oppose SNAP would like to admit. Although Urban Institute is known to be an independent or

liberal think tank, in the case of this article, it heavily relies on objective data to support their

claim (Waxman and Tilsley).

A structural barrier is a constraint that prevents someone from doing something. The

structural barriers that are preventing the resolution of the food security problem in Detroit are

numerous. The prevalence of food deserts and lack of grocery stores can be classified as a

structural barrier because it is outside the control of the citizens. If they have nowhere to buy

groceries, they cannot buy the food they need (Polson). Poverty and disabilities are also structural

barriers that cause food insecurity. When someone is disabled it is harder for them to find a steady

job and income and therefore affording food becomes more difficult. As long as there is poverty,

there will be food insecurity. When people do not have enough money to meet all of their basic

needs, they begin compromising parts of their lives to make ends meet. This can lead to

occasionally having to skip meals or eating less because they cannot afford the appropriate food

they need (Danziger). Poverty is a structure that is hard to overcome and often impacts children

who are born into it by no fault of their own.

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SNAP overcame the aforementioned structures by providing people suffering from food

insecurity with a way to purchase food. The structures that SNAP worked against the most were

poverty and disabilities. It has been found that the program is highly effective at reducing food

insecurity and poverty. For example, in 2014, SNAP helped 4.7 million people get out of

poverty. Additionally, 22% of the adults who receive benefits do not work due to a disability and

three quarters of the households receiving aid have a child, elderly person, or disabled person

(FACT SHEET). This illustrates how SNAP has been able to help people overcome structures

that otherwise would be nearly impossible to change. SNAP, however, is not able to combat the

structure of food deserts very well. It does not improve peoples access to food, only their

financial ability to afford it.

The implementation of SNAP demonstrates how the federal government can help to solve

problems that impact large areas of the country. Food insecurity is prevalent in every part of the

United States and therefore a federal policy was useful in resolving the issue. By establishing the

program and allotting a significant amount of funds for it, the United States government has been

able to help millions of people. This would not have been possible at the state level or in the

civic, market, and family spheres due to a lack of funding. As discussed during lecture and

discussion, the government and market spheres are the only ones that have the ability to scale.

Since the issue of food insecurity is so widespread, scalability is essential to being able to create

a solution. Additionally, the SNAP program exhibits how taxpayers dollars can successfully be

used to positively impact parts of the population.

When attempting to solve a problem, it is essential to first define the problem (Kraft and

Furlong). In the case of food insecurity this means anyone who struggles to afford an adequate
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diet. Once a problem has been clarified, the policy making process begins. The SNAP program

was instituted as solution to the ongoing food insecurity problem in the United States. It works to

alleviate those suffering by providing benefits in the form of EBT cards. Each year, millions of

Americans, some of whom are victims of structures such as poverty and disabilities receive

assistance, thus making SNAP a successful answer to the problem of food insecurity in the

United States.

Works Cited

Danziger, Sandra. Food Insecurity in the Detroit Metropolitan Area Following the Great

Recession. National Poverty Center, Jan. 2014,

www.npc.umich.edu/publications/policy_briefs/brief39/policybrief39.pdf. Accessed 27

Mar. 2017.

FACT SHEET: White House Report Highlights New Research on SNAP's Effectiveness and

the Importance of Adequate Food Assistance. Food and Nutrition Service, 8 Dec. 2015,

www.fns.usda.gov/pressrelease/2015/wh-120815. Accessed 28 Mar. 2017.

Kraft, Michael E., & Furlong, Scott R. 2010. Public policy: Politics, analysis, and alternatives

(3rd ed.). Washington, DC: CQ Press, Chapter 5.

Polson, Nickie. "Food Deserts in our Midst." Courier - IslanderFeb 15 2013. ProQuest. Web. 26

March. 2017 .
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Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Food and Nutrition Service,

www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap. Accessed 28

Mar. 2017.

United States. Congressional Research Service. Domestic Food Assistance: Summary of

Programs. By Randy Aussenberg and Kirsten Colello. N.p.: n.p., 11 January 2017.

Waxman, Elaine. Doing the Numbers on Food Insecurity in the United States. Urban Institute,

9 Sept. 2015, www.urban.org/urban-wire/doing-numbers-food-insecurity-united-states.

Accessed 28 Mar. 2017.

Waxman, Elaine, and Tilsley, Alexandra. There's More to SNAP than Mars Bars and Mountain

Dew. Urban Institute, 27 June 2016,

www.urban.org/urban-wire/theres-more-snap-mars-bars-and-mountain-dew. Accessed 28

Mar. 2017.