Hunger is on the Rise

Hunger is increasing dramatically in the Columbia River Gorge. A new regional Food Security Assessment found that nearly half of households surveyed (49%) worry about running out of food before they can afford more, and 42% said the food they bought simply didn’t last. This marks a dramatic increase from 2015, when about 30% of residents reported experiencing food insecurity.

Hunger is even higher among certain populations:

Families across the Gorge are struggling under the weight of skyrocketing housing costs, rising grocery prices, and long travel distances to stores. Survey participants identified high food costs as the number one barrier to accessing food, alongside challenges like limited time to cook and the rising cost of daily life. Community members described difficult tradeoffs: skipping healthy options to stretch a limited budget, driving long distances for affordable groceries, or choosing between paying rent, utilities, and buying quality food. With additional cuts to federal food assistance programs looming in 2027, the situation is only going to get worse.

This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the Columbia Gorge Food Security Coalition, which formed after the original 2015 assessment revealed the scale of hunger in our region. Over the past decade, collaboration across healthcare, agriculture, education, and community organizations has led to meaningful progress — including programs like SNAP Match, Veggie Rx, expanded food bank services, and community gardens at low-income housing centers. These programs matter deeply, and many families rely on them every day.

But this new data also reminds us that hunger is not simply a food problem. Poverty is the root cause of hunger. If we want to end hunger, we must look beyond emergency food access to the broader conditions that make people food insecure in the first place: low wages, unaffordable housing, rising healthcare and childcare costs, and inequities embedded within our food and economic systems.

As food justice leader Nick Saul writes, “We need to move beyond charity to solidarity.”

That shift – from charity alone toward food justice and systems change – is at the heart of our work today. Join the Food Security Coalition to become part of a deeper conversation and movement to build an inclusive local food system where no one goes hungry.

Learn more: 
Sign up for the Food Security Coalition newsletter, and stay tuned for a detailed report on regional food security coming in the fall
TedTalk: Why Food Won’t Solve the Problem of Hunger
Read The Stop about Canada’s revolutionary food justice movement
Check out the Food for All Oregonians campaign