Food stamp use soars in suburbs

from the Cleveland Plain Dealer

Loss of good jobs is blamed

Robert L. Smith

The number of people using food stamps has risen sharply in Cuyahoga County in recent years, especially in the suburbs, which experts see as evidence of more hunger and weaker jobs.

The number of county residents in the federal food stamp program surged 40 percent between 2002 and 2007, according to a study by the Center for Community Solutions released Thursday.

The study found that about 14 percent of Cuyahoga County's 1.4 million people received federal food stamps last year, probably a historic high.

"That's very likely the highest percentage ever enrolled in the program," said Joseph Gauntner, the county director of Employment and Family Services.

The federal food stamp program helps low-income people to buy food, but no longer with stamps. Most recipients receive an electronic debit card to pay for food in grocery stores.

To be eligible in 2007, a family of four must have been living on less than $26,860 a year. The average benefit is about $100 a month per person.

Gauntner said county efforts to better publicize the program likely accounts for some of the increase in enrollment. But he believes the loss of good jobs is the greater force at work.

"The primary driver is the economy," he said. "The former steelworker who now cleans offices or works at McDonald's suddenly needs help."

In Cuyahoga County, the increase in food stamp use was greatest in the suburbs -- where the number of people in the program about doubled in five years.

But hunger remains concentrated in the city. About 26 percent of Cleveland residents received federal food stamps in 2007, up from 21 percent in 2002, the study found.

Other safety-net programs examined by the center buttress the contention that hunger and poverty have grown here.

The data found heightened use of area food pantries, growing numbers of suburban children eligible for the federal school lunch program and an increase in calls to the United Way's First Call for Help hot line from people seeking food.

The Center for Community Solutions, a private, nonprofit research center, undertook the study for the Hunger Coordinating Committee, which represents the agencies most responsible for distributing food to hunger centers in Northeast Ohio.