About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (September 15, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/goveiuw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Informing the Iegitive debate since 1914 September 15, 2022 The USDA Healthy Food Financing Initiative According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS), approximately 13.8 million households in the United States were food-insecure in 2020. ERS defines food-insecure households as households that had difficulty at some time during the year providing food for all of their members because of a lack of resources. One component of food insecurity is food access, or the ability of people to find grocery stores or other food retail outlets that provide healthy and affordable food in their community. Studies have found that low- income communities tend to have fewer supermarkets than high-income communities. Similarly, communities of color (particularly predominantly Black and Hispanic communities) tend to have fewer supermarkets than predominantly White communities. In 2010, the Obama Administration introduced a plan for the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), which would increase access to healthy food retail outlets in underserved communities. An underserved community is an urban, rural, or Indian tribal community with limited access to affordable, healthy foods, including fresh fruits and vegetables, in grocery retail stores or farmer-to-consumer direct markets; and a high rate of hunger or food insecurity or a high poverty rate. (7 U.S.C. §1932(g)(9)). HFFI was created to be a partnership between USDA, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This In Focus provides an overview of the USDA Healthy Food Financing Initiative, compares the USDA program to the Treasury and HHS programs, and provides some potential considerations for Congress. The USDA HFFI Program Background The Obama Administration's plan for HFFI was to utilize diverse strategies across multiple federal departments to help increase food access in underserved communities. HFFI would be a partnership among USDA, Treasury, and HHS. Each federal department would take a different approach to increasing food access. USDA would expand demand for farm products and locally produced foods at retail outlets in underserved communities. Treasury would support private sector financing for healthy food projects. HHS would finance community-based projects. In FY2011, the Administration requested $20 million for HHS, $25 million for Treasury, and $50 million for USDA to carry out HFFI activities. Comparing HHS, Treasury, and USDA Funding The concept of HFFI as a partnership across three departments working simultaneously on increasing food access was not fully funded by Congress. Over the past 10 years, Congress has funded two out of the three departments to work on HFFI activities but has not funded all three departments at the same time. See Table 1. From FY2011 to FY2016, Congress appropriated annual funding to HHS and Treasury for their HFFI activities. During this time, Congress did not appropriate funding to USDA for HFFI activities. Congress provided funding to HHS to create an HFFI track within its Community Economic Development Program. The HFFI track provided competitive grants to community development corporations for projects that financed grocery stores and other retail outlets that provide healthy foods in low-income communities. Congress also provided funding to Treasury to create an HFFI track within its Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Program. The HFFI track provides grants, training, and technical assistance to community development financial institutions so they can provide loans for local projects that increase access to healthy foods in underserved communities. From FY2017 to FY2022, Congress provided annual appropriations for Treasury and USDA to conduct HFFI activities. See Program Overview, below, for more information on the USDA HFFI program. During that time, Congress did not appropriate funding to HHS for its HFFI activities. Table I. Healthy Food Financing Initiative Funding by Federal Department: FY20 I I to FY2022 Fiscal USDA HHS Treasury Year Funding Funding Funding FY2011 $0 FY2012 $0 FY2013 $0 FY2014 $0 FY2015 $0 FY2016 $0 $10 million $22 million $10 million $22 million $10 million $22 million $10 million $22 million $10 million $22 million $10 million $22 million FY2017 $1 million $0 FY2018 $1 million $0 FY2019 $2 million $0 FY2020 $5 million $0 FY2021 $5 million $0 FY2022 $160 million $0 $22 million $22 million $22 million $22 million $23 million $23 million

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most