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Food Stamps

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A report from the Brookings Institution suggests that people living in the suburbs accounted for almost 50 percent of food stamp recipients during 2007. The percentage rose to 55 percent during 2011. Although that may not sound major, a deeper examination of the facts reveals another situation. The share of food stamps usage only went up by 5 percentage points, but suburban households total food stamp use doubled between these periods. In comparison, total food stamp use went up by around 69 percent for city households during this time.

The Great Recession essentially led to a new form of poverty that had previously been unheard of and unconsidered within past decades. People had invested their money into beautiful homes in the suburbs, believing that they were going to be living the American Dream. What they found instead was that these choices led them towards financial difficulties when the economy began to crash. While many people were struggling to be able to pay their bills and make their rent payments on time, it forced them to start using the food stamp program in order to ensure that they would be able to put some food on the table for the members of their households.

It’s a difficult truth for many people to accept because society has often come across the misconception that people in the middle-class suburbs didn’t experience these types of issues and didn’t suffer from the low-income challenges in life. However, the decline of the economy forced everyone to be leveled to the same playing field, making many people who were once financially stable now have to budget and deal with concerns that they would have never imagined facing years ago.

Although the statistics associated with the amount of food stamp recipients living in suburban areas has been a concern for many people, it’s important to keep these elements in prospective. These are statistics that were taken some years ago when the economy and its condition were much worse than what it is now. There have been countless reports on the news and from experts which suggest that the economy is slowly beginning to recover and that there is a strong chance that financial situations may soon improve for those who have been budgeting within the past few years. This may make it easier for those who have been struggling to make ends meet to improve their lifestyles, assuming that they have not already attained that possibility.

Another point to keep in mind is that these statistics may also contrast with the other demographics of users who have been part of the food stamp program. Although 50 percent may seem like a large number, when put into contrast with the other demographics of food stamp recipients, it provides a different context. Ultimately, a large percentage of people throughout the country have made use of food stamps, but with the slow recovery of the economy, these numbers may drop more significantly over the next few years.

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