New Poverty Data Underscores Need for Congress to Reverse SNAP Cuts, Strengthen Federal Nutrition Programs for District of Columbia Residents
Media Contact:
Colleen Barton
cbarton@frac.org
703-203-7843
Statement Attributable to LaMonika Jones, director, D.C. Hunger Solutions
WASHINGTON, September 18, 2026 — D.C. Hunger Solutions is deeply disturbed by the latest poverty numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Thousands of Washington, D.C., residents still face the impossible choices between paying for food, housing, and medicine. These challenges are compounded by harmful policy decisions made over the past year that weaken the very programs designed to reduce poverty and food insecurity in our nation’s capital.
According to the latest Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) report, in 2025:
- Over 15 percent of D.C. residents lived in poverty, an increase of over 3 percent from the previous year (that is higher than the national number of 13.1 percent).
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helped 140,907 D.C. residents afford food, while school meals, afterschool and child care meals, Summer Nutrition Programs, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children provided additional support that kept households from falling deeper into hardship.
Despite SNAP’s many strengths, the budget reconciliation law, H.R. 1, slashed $187 billion from the program. Since then, nearly 10,000 people in D.C., including families with children, people with disabilities, and older adults, have lost access to SNAP.
Communities in every ward are feeling the effects. Older adults are skipping meals; families are struggling to cover both food and rent; and people are turning to overwhelmed food banks because their grocery budgets no longer stretch far enough. Charities and local governments can’t do it alone.
Starting Oct. 1, Washington, D.C., will be responsible for covering 75 percent of SNAP’s administrative expenses, forcing the District to make budgetary decisions between paying for transportation, education, or food assistance.
Families and individuals living in our nation’s capital need policies that protect, not weaken, the vital supports our communities rely on.
Policymakers should be advancing solutions that connect eligible households to federal nutrition programs, not creating new barriers to participation. Congress must heed the warning in the data, reverse harmful SNAP cuts and administrative and benefit cost shifts, and invest in proven solutions that help families put food on the table, reduce poverty, and strengthen our local economy.
It’s time to eradicate hunger in our nation’s capital.
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D.C. Hunger Solutions, an initiative of the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), is dedicated to ending hunger and improving nutrition, health, and economic security for low-income residents of Washington, D.C. The organization works to strengthen nutrition programs, advance public policies, and educate the public about hunger and its solutions.