As hunger, food and housing prices continue to rise, low income people – and the programs that serve them (e.g. senior nutrition, food banks, school meals, Summer EBT, TANF/WorkFirst, health care, and housing) - need the certainty that assistance will be there as promised in the 2025-27 budget.  

Congress made significant changes to SNAP (food stamps) this summer – but SNAP and our state’s look-alike program is the single most effective anti-hunger strategy in America. Washington must invest in DSHS staff, IT, and program capacity to ensure no one loses access to much-needed food across our state. These changes will hit hardest for low income people outside King County: immigrants, refugees, asylees, and under- and unemployed adults up to age 65. In total, affecting more than 200,000 Washingtonians living in poverty. 

House Bill 2238: Reducing hunger and improving food security requires deep collaboration and coordination between multiple state agencies and stakeholders with expertise in the state/federal programs that feed people and support producers. This bill brings together these groups, led by the Dept. of Agriculture, to develop a coordinated, comprehensive and data-informed plan to improve food security and hunger statewide.   

House Bill 2369: Codify OPSI’s innovative, nation-leading model for Farm to School efforts that partners with WSDA and creates large-scale purchasing of food from Washington producers and allows for statewide distribution of those local foods to school districts across the state. This model creates a simple, efficient and equitable process for schools to access local food for school meals.  

House Bill 2463: Washington farmers grow food that can support food banks and pantries, while these programs see continued increases in demand. Connecting local producers with local food banks is a win-win to fight hunger and strengthen our local food systems. 

Nearly half of all Washington college students reported food insecurity in 2024. SNAP enrollment for students remains overly complicated and confusing; more support through existing basic needs navigators on campuses and more streamlined eligibility through DSHS would increase participation. At the same time, many struggling students don’t qualify for SNAP. Expiring food assistance pilots have proven successful in reducing hunger and in increasing school persistence and completion. These pilots should be renewed.  

Cash assistance, WorkFirst programs at our state’s colleges, work readiness, and case management are all critical TANF resources for the thousands of families with children living in deep poverty in Washington. The Legislature must remember the cruel lessons from massive TANF cuts in the Great Recession and reject these cuts in the Governor’s proposed budget. TANF is for families with children with incomes less than $15,696/year ($1,308/month) – families who will already be hard hit by other budget cuts.

Every community must do its part to create housing and shelter for unhoused people, but some local governments still create roadblocks. The state should outlaw these practices, streamline local zoning, and remove local obstacles that make it harder, more expensive, or impossible to site these critical solutions to homelessness.  

In an era of corporate consolidation and closing grocery stores and pharmacies, the Legislature has tools to protect existing stores and encourage new development in underserved communities:

• House Bill 2297: Provide targeted, locally controlled tax incentives.

• House Bill 2294: Prohibit use restrictions on property that limit development of groceries and pharmacies.

• House Bill 2313: Provide pathways for publicly owned grocery stores.  

HB 2364: Update the Taskforce that oversees WorkFirst (TANF) and poverty reduction, work with its Advisory Council to reflect the work done since the creation of the 10 Year Plan to Dismantle Poverty by the Economic Justice Alliance, and to better align the work of state agencies, the Legislature, and community-based solutions to poverty.