Clackamas County declares food emergency, urges Gov. Kotek to do more

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners voted Thursday to declare a local state of emergency due to the suspension of federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, authorizing $100,000 of general fund contingency dollars to be used for the emergency.

“We need the state to step up,” Clackamas County Commissioner Ben West said.

Commissioners also voted to encourage the state to directly backfill the federal SNAP benefits during the ongoing federal government shutdown, as other states have done.

“Sometimes when you go to a food bank, you get what you get, you don’t get what you need per se,” Commissioner Paul Savas said during the meeting. “I’m grateful that the Governor allocated $5 million for the food bank system, but it’s not what the other states are doing as far as tapping into the SNAP benefits to make sure they directly, effectively get that.”

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek announced Tuesday that she was declaring a statewide food emergency and directing $5 million to Oregon’s food bank network. How that $5 million will be allocated has not been shared, and the Governor’s office did not immediately respond to an email request.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, there were 757,700 Oregonians who relied on SNAP benefits last year. Assuming that about the same number of people in the state still depend on the program to cover their food costs, that $5 million covers $6.60 worth of food per person for the month of November. 

Of all states, Oregon is one of the most dependent on SNAP, with 18% of the population receiving at least some assistance from the program. By comparison, 21% of New Mexico’s population receives SNAP, while 18% of Louisiana’s does and 17% of Oklahoma’s does. 

Dr. Stephanie Grutzmacher, an associate professor at Arizona State University who previously worked at Oregon State, said there are a number of reasons why so many Oregonians rely on SNAP, and one of them is that the state has made a big effort over the last decade to get those who qualified signed up. 

“The state has been very successful in conducting outreach to eligible people, simplifying the application process, getting them in the program and then really providing a lot of different retail options for using SNAP benefits,” she said.

Where in other states, SNAP recipients may only be able to shop at specific retail locations, Oregon has opened up a number of other options.

“In Oregon, we have this massive network of farmers’ markets, CSA farmer stands, small grocers, medium grocers and all of the large grocers, and online shopping where people can use their SNAP benefits,” she said.

One of the other main reasons is that Oregon has a high unemployment rate. Many of those who are working are also not earning enough.

“People just simply don’t make enough money to make ends meet without SNAP,” she said.

On Tuesday, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson directed nearly $2.2 million per week to the state’s food banks. In New Mexico, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced on Wednesday that the state would provide $30 million in state funds to SNAP recipients, and the money will be distributed directly to their existing EBT cards.

In California, the City of San Francisco also announced on Wednesday that it would help cover the SNAP funding gap by providing $18 million to support 112,000 residents who rely on food assistance for the month of November. Nevada also approved $30 million in state funding to go to food banks in an effort to support its nearly 500,000 SNAP-dependent residents.

New York announced $65 million in state funding to support food banks on Thursday to help the nearly 3 million residents impacted. Yesterday, Virginia’s governor said the state will draw $37.5 million from its surplus fund to transfer to roughly 850,000 SNAP users’ EBT cards to help them get through the month.

As KOIN has previously reported, a number of Portland-area businesses and food pantries are offering help to those who are facing food insecurity on Nov. 1. We will continue to update those lists if new resources become available.