Layoffs ordered by the Trump administration are exacerbating food insecurity for Washington, D.C., residents and those in the surrounding area, according to a Thursday report.
The Capital Area Food Bank said the dismissal of nearly 18,000 federal workers in the region is increasing hunger for local families.
“Since then, with the Supreme Court’s July 2025 decision to pause a lower court order on large-scale federal layoffs, the White House has continued implementing its plan for government downsizing, including several thousand more layoffs in the Greater Washington area,” the Thursday report says.
“These have had trickle-down effects into secondary economies that support the federal government and increased the population at risk of experiencing food insecurity,” it adds.
The nonprofit says workers could soon run out of savings needed to bear the brunt of these job losses.
Only 23 percent of people in the report have confidence in finding another job that pays similar wages, while less than half, 44 percent, are confident in their ability to find another job that uses similar skills.
The Capital Area Food Bank said cuts to food stamps and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are only set to make conditions worse amid the expected removal of 59,000 Washingtonians from Medicaid coverage.
According to the nonprofit, 50,000 families living in areas around the nation’s capital are slated to lose at least $25 a month in food stamps. This amounts to more than 10 percent of the current population receiving SNAP in the region.
The nonprofit found that families will “lose an average of $187 in benefits per month when the provisions are fully implemented.”
“With the average meal in our region costing $4.27, this amounts to a loss of about 40 meals per month,” the report says.
Approximately 11 percent of the nation’s capital is considered a food desert, according to research published by the D.C. Policy Center.
“This year’s report paints a picture of regional hunger that is persistent and deepening,” Radha Muthiah, the organization’s president and CEO, said in a statement to The Washington Post.
“In this region we are facing a trifecta. First is a continued elevated levels of need, including among a population that’s new to food insecurity. Second is the retraction of SNAP and Medicaid benefits. And third is high food prices,” she added.
Many residents must leave their neighborhoods by bus or train to shop for food.
Wards 7 and 8 are host to the largest percentage of food deserts at 51 percent and 31 percent, respectively.
Under President Trump, grocery prices rose 0.6 percent from July to August, the steepest one-month gain in roughly three years, according to the consumer price index. Prices are now 2.7 percent higher than a year ago and up nearly 30 percent from before the pandemic.
Given the circumstances, Capital Area Food Bank has urged the Trump administration, employers, philanthropists and health care payers to improve available food options for local residents.
“Given the vocal support from many in the current administration for Make America Healthy Again and FIM [food is medicine], including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, many in the FIM movement hope that there will be federal support for new and existing funding mechanisms to use government funds to pay for nutritional supports for patients with diet-related conditions and food insecurity,” Thursday’s report states.