Hunger Action Day 2026

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 basic needs services will be there as promised in the 2025-27 budget.

Congress made significant changes to SNAP this summer – but SNAP and our state’s look-alike program, Food Assistance Program, are the single most effect 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 Co; immigrants, refugees and asylees; and under- and unemployed adults up to age 65 – in total, more than 200,000 Washingtonians living in poverty.

HB 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 entities, led by the Dept. of Agriculture, to develop a coordinated, comprehensive and data-informed plan to improve food security and hunger statewide.

HB 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.

HB 2463: Washington farmers grow food that can support food banks and pantries, as 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.

SB 6227, HB 2586 / SB 5963: Nearly half of all Washington college students reported food insecurity in 2024. SNAP enrollment for students remains overly complicated and should be streamlined. Food assistance pilots have proven successful in reducing hunger and in increasing school persistence but will expire. Parenting students are invisible to college administration; there is no data readily available about them or their needs. Financial aid opportunities should be better aligned, especially for former foster youth. Together, these bills help provide a pathway to higher education and graduation for low income students.

TANF cash assistance, WorkFirst programs at our state community and technical colleges, work readiness, and case management are all critical components for the thousands of families with children living in deep poverty that participate in TANF. The Legislature must remember the cruel lessons from extraordinary TANF cuts in the Great Recession and reject these cuts in the Governor’s proposed budget totaling $68M. TANF is for families with children with incomes less than $15,696/year ($1,308/month) – families in deep poverty who will already be hard hit by other budget cuts. 

HB 2266 / SB 6069: Every community must do its part to create housing and shelter for homeless 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.

HB 2297 / HB 2294: 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: provide targeted, locally controlled tax incentives; and prohibit use restrictions on property that limit development of groceries and pharmacies.

HB 2364: Update the Taskforce entrusted to oversee WorkFirst (TANF), poverty reduction, and 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.