Food Deserts Annotated Bibliography

Crackdown on welfare recipients won't help Smith, Erika D . Indianapolis Star ; Indianapolis, Ind. [Indianapolis, Ind]. 30 Jan 2014: A.3.

ProQuest document link

ABSTRACT  

The latest example hit Tuesday when the House approved a bill that would screen welfare recipients for drugs and

ask the federal government to limit the use of food stamps to "nutritious" purchases.

FULL TEXT  

While many of us were getting worked up over whether Indiana should add a ban on same-sex marriage to our

constitution, members of the General Assembly have been busy doing other stuff. Crazy stuff.

The latest example hit Tuesday when the House approved a bill that would screen welfare recipients for drugs and

ask the federal government to limit the use of food stamps to "nutritious" purchases.

The measure, which passed 71-22, is now headed to the Senate.

Many people think this is a good thing. As one person commented on The Star's Facebook page: "It is about time!

If they can do drugs, they can afford to feed their children."

That sounds good. It really does. But it's not that simple. The feel-good political rhetoric is based on the false

notion that most welfare recipients are lazy and unemployed. In reality, most people on public assistance are

working adults who don't make enough money to fully support their families.

The reality of why people in poverty use drugs and buy unhealthy food for their families isn't a single, simple

problem, but a collection of intertwined problems that have to do with individuals' behavior and their environment.

This bill does nothing to address those problems, and if signed into law, it would do more harm than good.

Why? Let's start with the requirement that would limit those who receive food stamps -- known as the

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- to buying "nutritious" food. By the way, that's "nutritious" as deemed

by the government, whatever that will mean.

This grand idea doesn't account for food deserts, swaths of urban and rural areas where residents don't have

access to fresh fruit and vegetables. The lack of access can be because there aren't enough full-service grocery

stores to serve a given population or because there's inadequate public transportation to get to the stores that do

exist.

In Indianapolis, there are dozens of food deserts, particularly in the urban core. As neighborhoods have declined

into poverty, grocery stores have moved out, and reversing that trend has been all but impossible.

Instead, gas stations and convenience stores in those areas offer what the state probably would not view as

nutritious food. The choice for many residents is to buy cheap but unhealthy food, expensive healthy food or no

food at all. Given that choice, what would you pick?

The proposed restrictions for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program aren't much better.

Lawmakers want to force recipients to complete a questionnaire intended to screen for substance abuse and

perhaps even subject them to drug testing.

One problem involves the cost. How much will taxpayers pay to find out whether people in poverty are drinking too

much or smoking marijuana? And will the threat of losing benefits really make people who abuse drugs and

alcohol get clean?

Even if you brush that aside, if the adults in poor families are denied assistance, who will suffer the most? The

children in these families. Are we prepared to take on the additional cost and responsibility of more broken families

and more displaced children?

All of this isn't to say that our social safety net doesn't need to be reformed. There is waste in the system. But let's

not get caught up in feel-good measures that will do more harm than good.

And let's not let our lawmakers get away with it, either. It's time to pay attention, Hoosiers.

Contact Star columnist Erika D. Smith at [email protected], or on Twitter at @erika_d_smith.

Erika

D. Smith

Columnist

DETAILS

Subject: Grocery stores; Welfare reform; Poverty; Food; Food stamps; Food deserts

Location: Indiana

Publication title: Indianapolis Star; Indianapolis, Ind.

First page: A.3

Publication year: 2014

Publication date: Jan 30, 2014

Section: A

Publisher: Gannett Media Corp

LINKS Find It @ GALILEO

Database copyright  2022 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. Terms and Conditions Contact ProQuest

Place of publication: Indianapolis, Ind.

Country of publication: United States, Indianapolis, Ind.

Publication subject: General Interest Periodicals--United States

ISSN: 19302533

Source type: Newspaper

Language of publication: English

Document type: News

ProQuest document ID: 1492909236

Document URL: http://proxygsu-

atl1.galileo.usg.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/crackdown-

on-welfare-recipients-wont-help/docview/1492909236/se-2?accountid=8415

Copyright: Copyright 2014 - Indianapolis Star - All Rights Reserved

Last updated: 2017-11-21

Database: Global Newsstream,ProQuest Central