HACAP ‘well-positioned’ to handle rise in need for food

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 454, a bill requiring additional income verification for Iowans applying for public assistance, into law June 1.

The bill requires low-income Iowans applying for heath care and food assistance to face additional verification and eligibility tests.

Hawkeye Area Community Action Program Food Reservoir Director Kim Guardado told The Gazette that the law coupled with increasing prices could lead to an increase in families seeking assistance at local food banks. The Gazette talked with Guardado about the law’s impact on local food pantries.

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This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Q: Kim Reynolds signed a bill that would require asset testing for Iowa residents to receive benefits. Tell me how this limits some families and makes it so they might have to rely on food banks more?

A: I think a lot of families that are facing food insecurity will think about applying for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and this kind of additional asset testing is, is going to be one of those kind of additional things that families would need to go through in order to qualify for SNAP. So we do believe that families will still qualify for SNAP, and we understand that they'll just have to go through some extra steps in order to qualify for SNAP.

Q: Do you think this new requirement will deter some families from applying for SNAP benefits?

A: So I think what that means for families is that some families may choose not to apply for SNAP, for a lot of reasons — one being they just don't want to share all of their personal information in order to do that. So I think we will see an increase in families visiting pantries in our area and I think that it's going to be one more thing that families have to go through in order to get the help that they need.

Q: Tell me a little bit about how HACAP is looking to make sure that it can provide for families, even through this possible increase of demand for the food pantry?

A: I feel like we're well-positioned to be able to meet the need. I think there are additional challenges right now, because of the cost of food that does kind of put a limit on the amount of food that we can purchase and have available for families. But we're seeing a large number of donations coming in, through summer drives and through retail pickup donations from corporations. So I feel like we're going to be well-positioned.

Q: So as this legislation was being debated, have you seen a rise in demand for foods throughout these last couple of months?

A: About a year ago, in April of 2022, is when the emergency pandemic allotments ended. So we definitely saw a huge increase when that happened just over a year ago, and then I would say probably over the last four or five months, we've seen a pretty steady increase of, 10 to 15 percent each month.

With the rising costs of food, which is going up faster than our income is able to meet, and so we're just seeing that need — through all of our partners that families are coming and asking for more help.

Comments: 319-368-8877; liam.halawith@thegazette.com