There’s a push to close the gap between the number of active-duty service members and their families who need help paying for food, and those who actually qualify for a military food assistance program.
Much of it comes down to how food and housing assistance for military service members and their families are calculated. Lawmakers are taking a closer look at how to meet the needs of the country’s military families as economic conditions remain in flux.
Research by the University of Georgia reported that, among military families in the United States, about one in eight with at least one child have to use a food bank, food pantry, or other food charity to feed their families in the past year.
The UGA study reported the potential for a food pantry to be used by a military family increased by 35% for each dependent child, meaning families with two children could see as many as 70% would need to use a food pantry or food banks to put dinner on the table.
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According to the UGA research, there are more than 8,325 families of active members of the Army or Air Force in the United States as of spring 2021. The UGA study’s authors said military families’ economic situations were tied to the overall American populace, saying the issues with food security they’re seeing are not a surprise.
“If we look at the American population in general, about half of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck,” Catherine O’Neal, lead author of the study and an assistant professor in UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences, said.
Between the U.S. Army and Air Force, the study by UGA found families with members in the Army were 131% more likely to use a food bank than their Air Force counterparts.
The gap widened for lower-ranked service members and service members who were from a minority or multiracial family, according to UGA. The study said lower-ranked and minority families were about 50% more likely to need to use a food bank or similar service.
The study results were based on how military families used food distribution resources, compared by rank, as well as contrasted with non-military factors like race or ethnicity.
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The study authors reported that 8,326 enlisted families with members in the U.S. Army or Air Force participated, all of whom had applied for supplemental childcare funding from the National Military Family Association.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, “there [were] 1,507,987 active-duty family members. 38.4% of active-duty family members are spouses, 61.2% are children, and 0.4% are adult dependents,” in 2022.
DOD also reported there were 974,512 selected reserve family members, with 35% being spouses, 64.8% are children, and 0.2% were adult dependents, also in 2022.
A related U.S. Military demographics report showed there were 79,363 total dependents for 63,414 active personnel in the state of Georgia.
Service numbers provided to Channel 2 Action News by NMFA reported the following breakdown of service members with dependents in Georgia put the number of spouses with active duty service members at 24,693 and 47,580 active-duty children, accompanying more than 57,000 active-duty service members.
The study of military families’ food security needs was published in October and followed a report in 2022 from the DOD. Published in July 2022, the DOD’s Office of the Under Secretary of Personnel & Readiness reported about a quarter of all active service military members needed solutions for food insecurity, as of 2020.
Additionally, the DOD report said, “Analysis from the 2018 SOFS-A and the 2021 ADSS, which surveys the spouses of activity duty service members, showed similar trend lines across the USDA measures.”
The number of military families with an unemployed spouse and experiencing food insecurity grew from about 24% to between 41%-43%, or about 286,000 people according to DOD.
Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin III instituted a new set of programs and program adjustments to address the needs of military families for healthcare, food, and housing in 2023. The “Taking Care of Our People” initiative, as well as an updated “Taking Care of Service Members and Families” initiative from the Department of Defense.
In an effort to provide service members with resources to feed their families and households, the DOD uses a Basic Needs Allowance. Service members with a gross household income below 150% of the federal poverty guidelines and with a dependent can qualify, so long as they have completed initial entry training. This BNA payment program began in January 2023.
Yet, fewer than 3,000 service members qualify for the BNA, lawmakers told Channel 2′s Samantha Manning.
“The reality is people are seeking out this benefit and seeking the support, but then they’re being told they’re ineligible,” Shannon Razsadin, President and Executive Director of the Military Family Advisory Network told Manning. “It puts families in a really difficult spot of, I need help. My family needs support. But because we’re in the military, because we have this basic allowance for housing, I’m essentially being told that we’re ineligible.”
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Channel 2 Action News has requested information from federal officials about how many would qualify for this provision.
While an exact number was not immediately available, Channel 2 Action News calculated an estimate of which grades may qualify for BNA payments using a combination of federal poverty guidelines for 2023, which were updated on Jan. 19, and the 2023 salary levels for military service members.
Currently, the federal poverty line for a family of three is $24,860 per year for a household income.
The military basic pay table shows that for the lowest grade enlisted service members yearly pay comes out to roughly $21,276 before taxes, meaning that for a single individual, they’re about $6,700 above the poverty line. That means a two-person household with a newly enlisted service member only earns $1,500 more than the poverty line.
Any new enlistees with at least one dependent are likely to earn less than the federal poverty line while actively serving the United States Military, though there are variations by branch and contract.
In a statement provided to Channel 2 Action News, DOD said they take “the issue of food insecurity within the military community extremely seriously and is executing a holistic strategy of policies, programs, and other initiatives to help support, care for, and empower our Service members and families with the tools and resources needed to address and prevent food insecurity.”
Those programs and resources include:
- Expanded outreach on financial readiness including fielding a Military OneSource Military Leaders Economic Security Toolkit with resources to help leaders identify service members who may be struggling and connect them to resources, https://www.militaryonesource.mil/leaders-service-providers/economic-security/
- Launched Resources for Financial Stress landing page on MilitaryOneSource.mil to connect service members and their families with immediate financial assistance and relevant financial education and planning tools
- Allocated funds to subsidize commissary prices so military families save at least 25% on their purchases
- Enhanced MilitaryOneSource.mil online tools, guides and FAQs to make moving simpler for military families
A group of bipartisan lawmakers in both chambers sent a letter to key Congressional leadership tasked with crafting defense legislation, known as the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
A copy of the letter obtained by Channel 2 Action News showed lawmakers said: “The most significant issue limiting the reach of this program is the counting of the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) as income for most servicemembers. Food insecurity is a problem that impacts servicemembers at every duty station in the United States, and BAH should be categorically excluded as counted income for the BNA, as has been recommended with broad bipartisan support in House-passed NDAA bills during the past three cycles. This common-sense adjustment to the eligibility guidelines for the BNA will help ensure the majority of military families who struggle with food insecurity are able to access this critical support.”
“The bottom line here is that we’re trying to increase the amount of money that families have in their possession so that they can afford housing and they can afford food,” Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-WA) told Channel 2′s Washington News Bureau about the letter.
Lawmakers and military advocates argue making sure military families have access to enough food is essential to keeping us all safe.
“We talk about readiness for military families, this is a basic part of readiness,” said Strickland.
“There is no scenario where if a family is struggling to put food on the table that the service member is really going to be able to focus on the mission at hand,” said Razsadin.
We reached out to all four offices of the House and Senate committees that received the letter for a response but we haven’t heard back yet.
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