Income Support Policies and the Rise of Student and Family Homelessness

This study investigates whether the generosity and accessibility of publicly provided income support contributes to levels of family homelessness. Using data on student homelessness from most public school districts in the United States, I find that greater access to cash assistance from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program reduces levels of family homelessness and that the reduction is particularly strong for majority–Black and Native American school districts. The results suggest that the observed decline in access to TANF cash assistance may be an important driver of the rise in family homelessness. Evidence is inconclusive about whether greater access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or greater generosity of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) reduces levels of homelessness.

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The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Financial Stress, and Childhood Obesity

Agricultural and Resource Economics Review ◽

10.1017/s1068280500004160 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 29-42 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Rebecca Burgstahler ◽

Craig Gundersen ◽

Steven Garasky

Keyword(s):

Childhood Obesity ◽

Low Income ◽

Financial Stress ◽

The United States ◽

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ◽

Supplemental Nutrition ◽

Assistance Program ◽

Household Finances ◽

Nutrition Assistance ◽

Using Data

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest nutritional assistance program addressing food insecurity in the United States. Due to the program's reach, SNAP has been called upon to address other nutrition-related challenges facing low-income Americans, including childhood obesity. This study considers the effect of SNAP participation on child weight outcomes after controlling for household financial stress, an important determinant of child overweight status that disproportionately affects low-income households. Using data from theSurvey of Household Finances and Childhood Obesityand instrumental variable methods, we find that SNAP participation is negatively associated with obesity among eligible children.

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The influence of prescriber and patient gender on the prescription of benzodiazepines: results from the Florida Medicaid Dataset

CNS Spectrums ◽

10.1017/s1092852921000055 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-5

Author(s):

Leanna M. W. Lui ◽

Yena Lee ◽

Orly Lipsitz ◽

Nelson B. Rodrigues ◽

Hartej Gill ◽

...

Keyword(s):

The United States ◽

Sociodemographic Factors ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Assistance Program ◽

Patient Gender ◽

Prescription Rates ◽

Male Patients ◽

Using Data ◽

Main Effects

Abstract Background Benzodiazepine (BZD) prescription rates have increased over the past decade in the United States. Available literature indicates that sociodemographic factors may influence diagnostic patterns and/or prescription behaviour. Herein, the aim of this study is to determine whether the gender of the prescriber and/or patient influences BZD prescription. Methods Cross-sectional study using data from the Florida Medicaid Managed Medical Assistance Program from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018. Eligible recipients ages 18 to 64, inclusive, enrolled in the Florida Medicaid plan for at least 1 day, and were dually eligible. Recipients either had a serious mental illness (SMI), or non-SMI and anxiety. Results Total 125 463 cases were identified (i.e., received BZD or non-BZD prescription). Main effect of patient and prescriber gender was significant F(1, 125 459) = 0.105, P = 0 .745, partial η2 < 0.001. Relative risk (RR) of male prescribers prescribing a BZD compared to female prescribers was 1.540, 95% confidence intervals (CI) [1.513, 1.567], whereas the RR of male patients being prescribed a BZD compared to female patients was 1.16, 95% CI [1.14, 1.18]. Main effects of patient and prescriber gender were statistically significant F(1, 125 459) = 188.232, P < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.001 and F(1, 125 459) = 349.704, P < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.013, respectively. Conclusions Male prescribers are more likely to prescribe BZDs, and male patients are more likely to receive BZDs. Further studies are required to characterize factors that influence this gender-by-gender interaction.

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Linking SNAP to Food Security: Exploring Reinstating a Purchase Requirement and Tying Benefits to the Low-Cost Food Plan

The Economists Voice ◽

10.1515/ev-2017-0007 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Beth Osborne Daponte

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Low Cost ◽

The United States ◽

Food Assistance ◽

Food Banks ◽

Assistance Program ◽

Food Pantries ◽

Structural Risk ◽

Emergency Food Assistance ◽

Nutrition Assistance

AbstractThe United States has a food assistance structure that, by design, does not assure that households receiving food assistance will be food secure, is deeply inefficient, and is at financial and structural risk. The two most common forms of food assistance used today are Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program) and charitable food assistance in the form of groceries (provided through a network of food banks, food pantries, and other related programs). Approximately 43 million persons participate in SNAP and nearly one-third of them also rely on a food pantry for groceries. The use of charitable food assistance by persons relying on SNAP demonstrates that SNAP’s benefit level and structure does not sufficiently result in food security. The article argues that reinstating a purchase requirement for SNAP and increasing the level of benefits provided to SNAP participants would increase the food security of participants, alleviate the chronic demand for food from food banks and food pantries, and ultimately allow the charitable food assistance network to better accomplish its goal of providing emergency food assistance to the needy.

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Do charter schools alleviate the negative effect of teacher turnover?

Management in Education ◽

10.1177/0892020618780963 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 11-20 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Karlerik Naslund ◽

Branco Ponomariov

Keyword(s):

Student Achievement ◽

Public Schools ◽

School Districts ◽

Charter Schools ◽

Teacher Turnover ◽

Public School Districts ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Labor Practices ◽

Negative Effect ◽

Using Data

Using data on charter and public school districts in Texas, we test the hypothesis that the labor practices in charter schools, in particular their ability to easily dismiss poorly performing teachers, diminishes the negative effect of teacher turnover on student achievement and graduation rates in comparison to public schools. We find some support for this hypothesis, and discuss implications for theory and practice.

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Forgoing Food Assistance out of Fear: Simulating the Child Poverty Impact of a Making SNAP a Legal Liability for Immigrants

Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World ◽

10.1177/2378023119832691 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 237802311983269

Author(s):

Jennifer Laird ◽

Isaac Santelli ◽

Jane Waldfogel ◽

Christopher Wimer

Keyword(s):

Homeland Security ◽

Child Poverty ◽

The United States ◽

Immigrant Parents ◽

Department Of Homeland Security ◽

Assistance Program ◽

Potential Child ◽

Cash Benefits ◽

Nutrition Assistance ◽

Proposed Regulation

Public charge, a term used by immigration officials for over 100 years, refers to a person who relies on public assistance at the government’s expense. Immigrants who are deemed at high risk of becoming a public charge can be denied green cards; those outside of the United States can be denied entry. Current public charge policy largely applies to cash benefits. The Department of Homeland Security has proposed a regulation that will allow officials to consider the take-up of both cash and non-cash benefits when making public charge determinations. Nearly 90 percent of children with immigrant parents are U.S.-born and therefore eligible for public benefits. Most of these children live in mixed-status households. We examine the potential child poverty impact of the proposed regulation. Our results show that depending on the chilling effect, more than 2 million citizen children could lose access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as a result of the proposed regulation.

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An Examination of the Adequacy of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Benefit Levels: Impacts on Food Insecurity

Agricultural and Resource Economics Review ◽

10.1017/age.2019.30 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 433-447 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Craig Gundersen ◽

Elaine Waxman ◽

Amy S. Crumbaugh

Keyword(s):

Food Insecurity ◽

Low Income ◽

The United States ◽

Food Prices ◽

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ◽

Supplemental Nutrition ◽

Assistance Program ◽

The Difference ◽

Nutrition Assistance ◽

The Cost

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) serves as the primary tool to alleviate food insecurity in the United States. Its effectiveness has been demonstrated in numerous studies, but the majority of SNAP recipients are still food insecure. One factor behind this is the difference in food prices across the country—SNAP benefits are not adjusted to reflect these differences. Using information from Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap (MMG) project, we compare the cost of a meal by county based on the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP)—which is used to set the maximum SNAP benefit—with the cost of the average meal for low-income food-secure households. We find that the cost of the latter meal is higher than the TFP meal for over 99 percent of the counties. We next consider the reduction in food insecurity if, by county, the maximum SNAP benefit level was set to the cost of the average meal for low-income food-secure households. We find that if this approach were implemented, there would be a decline of 50.9 percent in food insecurity among SNAP recipients at a cost of $23 billion.

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Perspective: The Convergence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Food Insecurity in the United States

Advances in Nutrition ◽

10.1093/advances/nmaa126 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jason M Nagata ◽

Hilary K Seligman ◽

Sheri D Weiser

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Food Insecurity ◽

The United States ◽

Micronutrient Deficiencies ◽

Supplemental Nutrition ◽

Assistance Program ◽

Assistance Programs ◽

United States Food ◽

Households With Children ◽

Nutrition Assistance

ABSTRACT During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, food insecurity has doubled overall and tripled among households with children in the United States. Food insecurity and COVID-19 may exacerbate one another through bidirectional links, leading to a syndemic, or sequential disease clusters, which exacerbate one another. Experiencing food insecurity may be associated with macronutrient and micronutrient deficiencies, which can weaken host defenses, thus increasing susceptibility to COVID-19. Food insecurity is associated with chronic medical conditions, which may afford a higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness. People experiencing food insecurity may have increased exposure to COVID-19 while procuring food. People with COVID-19 may be unable to work, generate income, and procure food while quarantined, which may exacerbate food insecurity. Clinicians should screen for food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide referrals to food-assistance programs when appropriate. Policymakers should expand benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to address increases in the depth and breadth of food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Perceptions of the Food Environment and Access among Predominantly Black Low-Income Residents of Rural Louisiana Communities

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17155340 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (15) ◽

pp. 5340

Author(s):

Denise Holston ◽

Jessica Stroope ◽

Matthew Greene ◽

Bailey Houghtaling

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Focus Group ◽

Food Insecurity ◽

Low Income ◽

Food Environment ◽

Food Access ◽

The United States ◽

Grocery Store ◽

Assistance Program ◽

Nutrition Assistance

Food insecurity in rural settings is complex and not fully understood, especially from the perspective of low-income and Black residents. The goal of this study was to use qualitative methods to better understand experiences with food access and perceptions of the food environment among low-income, predominately Black rural Louisiana residents in the United States. Data were collected from focus group discussions (FGD) and focus group intake forms. Study participants were all rural residents eligible to receive at least one nutrition assistance program. FGD questions focused on perceptions of the food environment, with an emphasis on food access. Participants (n = 44) were predominately Black and female. Over half (n = 25) reported running out of food before the end of the month. Major themes included: store choice, outshopping, methods of acquiring foods other than the grocery store, and food insecurity. Concerns around price, quality, and transportation emerged as factors negatively impacting food security. Understanding residents’ perceptions and experiences is necessary to inform contextually appropriate and feasible policy and practice interventions that address the physical environment and social conditions that shape the broader physical food environment in order to achieve equitable food access and food security.

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