Tim Isley did everything he should have done to save for retirement. He worked for 27 years in hospitality and hotel management before getting furloughed during the pandemic and retiring at age 74.
Eisley is now 76, has no dependents and no spouse, and lives alone in Van Nuys. Half of his Social Security check goes to rent, and at times he feels like he’s on the verge of disaster.
“I’m too rich for most of these (poverty) programs,” said Eisley, who doesn’t qualify for California’s CalFresh food stamps.
But Isley has kept hunger in check thanks to five free meals he receives at Los Angeles restaurants at the beginning of each week. Quick Response Senior Meal Program, An effort launched to help low-income and homebound seniors during the pandemic. Home-delivered meals supplement their diet at a time when skyrocketing inflation is pushing their grocery budget up to $200 a month.
Eisley is one of 5,800 seniors who are at risk of losing this food resource, as the program is set to end this fall and the city may have difficulty extending it because The budget deficit is expected to increase. The program was first approved last year. $11 million budgetThis could continue if the city council could raise the money to expand it.
“It’s imperative that the city ensures our vulnerable seniors don’t go hungry,” Council Member Heather Hutt said in a statement. A proposal Council’s Budget, Finance and Innovation Committee has been requested to reallocate $8 million from budget reserves to continue the program into the next fiscal year.
The committee’s chairman, Council Member Bob Blumenfield, reacted The city’s Department of Aging will be asked to evaluate the program’s status, eligibility requirements, other types of funding and alternative meal programs.
Jake Flynn, Blumenfield’s communications director, said in an email that the program “was created to help provide meals to those in isolation during COVID. It was never intended to continue forever.”
Kayla de la Haye, director of USC’s Institute for Food System Equity, said food delivery programs have been effective during the pandemic. She said food insecurity among the elderly has not increased as much as it has among younger adults. And she credits that to the city’s “targeted, effective programs for seniors, like home delivery of meals, which were scaled up very quickly during stay-at-home orders.”
He said as pandemic restrictions have lifted, it’s become less ideal for L.A. to pay for these kinds of services.
“There are some disadvantages to having food delivered to your home, and social isolation is one of them,” de la Haye said. Studies have shown that loneliness in seniors can lead to the following problems: Adverse health risksAlso there’s the issue of cost, he said, adding that serving meals to groups is cheaper.
In a report City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo advised against continuing the program due to budget constraints. Contractors such as Revolution Foods And Every Table,
But de la Haye doesn’t support eliminating programs like Rapid Response Senior Meals. She said these programs can be effective in addressing the hidden food insecurity of seniors who can’t leave their homes and face greater risk in crowded markets and eateries as new COVID-19 variants are still evolving. And she worries that abruptly ending such programs could leave low-income seniors behind in their time of greatest need.
“Food prices, inflation, rent prices are all much harder now than they were in the first months of the pandemic,” de la Haye said. Research A 2023 study found that 44% of low-income households in L.A. face food insecurity, the highest rate in the past decade.
“We are at the worst rate of food insecurity in the county that we’ve seen in a while,” he said in 2017. Study According to a survey conducted by the Congressional Hunger Center, 1.5 million residents of LA County are food insecure — 11% of whom are seniors, or about 165,000 people.
The Rapid Response Senior Meals program is one of several food distribution services in L.A. County attempting to meet this growing need, but according to Revolution Foods, there are now 1,400 seniors on the wait list for the program.
“Los Angeles is a uniquely car-centric city, and many seniors who do not qualify as ‘homebound’ still cannot drive or safely walk the distance necessary to meet their daily food needs,” Dominic Engels, chief executive of Revolution Foods, said in public comments to the Budget, Finance and Innovation Committee.
Amy Zhao, social service program manager at the Chinatown Service Center, said she receives calls at least two to three times a week from Chinese elders asking about the Rapid Response Senior Meal Program. Many elders living in Chinatown face this problem. food desert After local grocery stores close Walmart’s Arrival and Departure from the historic neighborhood. He said it’s been more than five years since residents had a grocery store with fresh produce.
According to de la Haye ResearchBlack and Latino communities are disproportionately affected by food insecurity, and Asian Americans in particular are 2.2 times more likely to experience nutrition insecurity than white residents of LA County. Nutrition insecurity means limited access to healthy and culturally relevant food, which is associated with poor mental health and diabetes risk.
“People in this local area have to take a bus to go to Superior Grocers to buy groceries … 30, 40 minutes away,” Zhao said. “If they want to buy Asian groceries, they have to take an hour on a bus to go to the San Gabriel Valley.”
De la Haye said if the City Council allows the Rapid Response Senior Meals program to end, city officials need to do more to address the root issues of social isolation and food insecurity for seniors.
De la Haye advocates for walkable cities, where people can find the services they need within a 15-minute radius of their home. That may be a dream for LA, but in the meantime, she’s working on another solution: Yacht From Open Access LA, which provides free resources and opportunities for local food businesses.
“We don’t have autonomy over what food is available locally,” de la Haye said. She said she wants public officials to reimagine what a healthy, resilient and equitable food environment looks like. She hopes the city will invest in more long-term solutions to help local entrepreneurs grow.
De la Haye said there is evidence that involving more local people in food production benefits the community, even in an urban sprawl like Los Angeles. He said these local businesses are “better able to meet the needs of their community members and keep the profits local.”
