When thousands of San Antonians lost Medicaid and food benefits in March 2023, Lissette Medina struggled to feed her five daughters for two months until her application for food stamps was approved.
San Antonio’s poorest families were hit the hardest. If approved for food stamps again, many were given less funds than they had received before the pandemic-related public health emergency ended.
Once reapproved, Medina was left with a $1,000 in food benefits each month — $300 less than what she used to get — to feed herself and her daughters ranging between ages 5 and 17. With inflation’s effects on grocery costs, she said it’s not enough to keep the pantry filled.
By Jan. 22, Medina had no funds remaining on her Lone Star card, a circumstance she said was typical near the end of the month. In the pantry were ingredients like peanut butter and cereal, and one package of pork chops Medina’s sister bought to help.
Food benefits would reload in two days, so the snacks and pork chops needed to last until then.
“Right now, I have nothing,” said Medina. “I have to wait until tomorrow to get my food stamps to buy more food. I wish they could give me a little bit more, but they’re not.” Medina said. “I really want to go back to work, but I can’t.”
Medina can’t get a job because she spends much of her days traveling to and from appointments for two of her daughters who are disabled, but also because income from a job could mean losing a portion, if not all, of her food and housing benefits.
Medina lives on San Antonio’s East Side, in zip code 78202, where roughly 23% to 27% of the population is food insecure, according to the city’s food insecurity dashboard.
The dashboard, which uses data from the Feeding America network of food banks, is just one initiative that’s part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District’s efforts to address and improve food insecurity in partnership with the UTHealth School of Public Health in Houston.
The resulting health equity network food insecurity workgroup meets monthly to focus on three goals officials say will decrease food insecurity in Bexar County: Stable housing, improved food assistance programs and better access to both for residents.
“We need our local officials to make this a big part of their lives,” said Lotus Rios, a member of the food insecurity workgroup and founder of the Harlandale Sunshine Pantry on the South Side.
“… The fact that it took us this long as a city, it’s very disheartening.”
Focus groups, community conversations and a city-wide survey will help gather data for a food insecurity assessment report that studies the factors related to the disparities in San Antonio, like household resilience and mental health-related factors.
Food insecurity by zip code
More than 15% of Bexar County’s population is food insecure, an official U.S. Department of Agriculture term describing when people don’t have sufficient food and may not know where their next meal is coming from. The county’s Black population has higher food insecurity rates at 24%, and San Antonio’s formerly incarcerated, disabled population and adults age 18 to 59 are most at risk for food insecurity.
Data shows San Antonio’s food insecure populations live mostly in the 78207, 78208, 78226 and 78242 zip codes, which like 78202 are among the highest food insecure populations in Bexar County.
One out of four children in Bexar County are food insecure, said Sean Greene, policy and civic engagement administrator for Metro Health, adding that African American residents in Bexar County are three times more likely to be food insecure than non-Hispanic whites, and that Hispanics in Bexar County are two and a half times more likely to be food insecure than non-Hispanic whites.
Of low-income households with children in Bexar County, more than 50% are forced to spend more than half their income on housing expenses, leaving little room for other necessities, like food, utilities and medicine. And only 63.4% of eligible people get SNAP benefits.
Across the state, people who are food insecure are making trade-offs, like delaying rent and other bills for medicines or food, or vice versa. Others sell possessions, or compromise on the quality of food purchases or housing.
“There are policies and laws that contribute to food insecurity, but that also can be part of the solution that we could leverage to address food insecurity,” Greene said.
That includes federal programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for food stamps and Women, Infants and Children program, known as WIC.
For the first time in 25 years, the WIC program may not be fully funded due to a $1 billion funding shortfall partly caused by the increased number of eligible people enrolling into the program, which Congress could appropriate funds to address, said Maria Palma, nutrition policy lead for Metro Health.
Families could have their benefits cut, including the food packages included in the program that provide whole grain, dairy and infant foods, if Congress can’t fully fund WIC in 2024.
“It’s a program a lot of families rely on. Its evidence based as far as nutrition … access to food is critical as part of the WIC program,” Palma said.
But as groups advocate, there are barriers San Antonians face every day, like transportation and food deserts.
Sometimes Medina is forced to have groceries delivered from H-E-B at an extra cost, but when she can, Medina asks her sister or a neighbor for rides to go to the grocery store or to the drive-thru food distribution at Ella Austin Community Center.
As a last resort, she’ll walk to a food distribution one block away on Wednesdays. And on Thursdays and Fridays, her family can get free breakfast and lunch at Bowden Elementary School.
Although Medina, a certified child development associate, wants to go back to work, she said it’s not possible right now because of her 17-year-old daughter, who needs a liver transplant, and her 6-year-old, who has cerebral palsy.
Medicaid helps cover her daughters’ medical costs, and a $600 disability benefit for two of her girls help pay off the $1,000-plus payment plan for past due electricity bills she racked up, which she skipped to cover other expenses.
‘People are going to judge you’
San Antonio’s far South Side has the lowest percentage of retail food environments, meaning there aren’t many healthy foods in the area. To see the entire map, click here.
And although there are more than 300 food pantries in the Bexar County area, UT Health Houston found that most food insecure households in San Antonio don’t feel like they need them or oftentimes leave food pantries as a last resort.
That’s why the food insecurity workgroup recommends a focus on improving charitable food systems — redesigning a more appealing environment like a grocery store to let people choose what they want to eat versus handing them a box without considering the person’s nutritional preference.
The food pantry at the YWCA Olga Madrid Center on the city’s West Side looks different from most: It’s set up like a small store and participants use points as currency to shop for their own items, like dairy products, water bottles and canned foods.
People show up on their lunch breaks to pick up food, and seniors never fail to visit, the pantry manager said.
As the workgroup tries to increase access to such resources, it also is planning a food insecurity assessment report that studies factors like household resilience and mental health related to food disparities in San Antonio.
For Medina, the stigma of food insecurity is troubling.
“You feel like people are going to judge you,” Medina said. “Because you live in housing, because you need food stamps, government assistance. But sometimes you need it. It’s hard being a single mom and having so many kids.”
In the meantime, Medina is working on creating sources of income to help cover her family’s needs, like making and selling chamoy candy and handmade hair bows. She hopes to save enough for a family vehicle.
“What pushed me were my kids. They need to eat. They need a roof over their heads,” she said.
