I’ve watched policy debates for more than 20 years in this country and I’ve learned one thing that never ceases to shock me: the breathtaking ease with which some of our leaders will talk about taking food from people’s tables, as if hunger were a mere inconvenience, and not an affront to human rights. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is one of our most successful anti-poverty programs. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lifeline. When policy makers start talking about “tightening” or “modernizing” SNAP, what they often mean is cutting it, and with those cuts come human consequences that spread far beyond the checkout line.
Food security is a human rights issue. Food isn’t charity; it’s a human right. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights names adequate food as part of the right to an adequate standard of living. When we reduce that access, we’re not just saving money on a budget line item — we’re tearing down the foundations of human dignity. For millions of Americans, SNAP represents the thin line between stability and desperation.
Research from places like Columbia’s Center on Poverty & Social Policy and the Urban Institute has shown that SNAP doesn’t just help alleviate hunger, but that it helps keep almost 3 million people out of poverty each year. For every dollar spent on the program, we see between $1.50 and $1.80 in local economic activity. Cutting those benefits doesn’t just hurt individuals. It weakens communities. And, as research increasingly shows, it makes our country less safe. The connection between hunger and safety Research shows clearly: when people are food-insecure, crime rates tend to rise. It’s not because poverty “makes people into criminals”, it’s because desperation undermines the fragile stability that allows people to make long-term, rational choices.
One recent study found that distributing SNAP benefits more evenly throughout the month slightly reduced robbery rates by about 0.03 incidents per 100,000 people. The effect may seem small, but the story it tells is profound: when the pressure of hunger is eased, communities become calmer. Another study found that denying people food assistance when they leave incarceration raised the risk of re-arrest by about 4%. Food insecurity doesn’t rehabilitate; it punishes people into survival mode. When SNAP benefits are cut, food insecurity increases. When food insecurity increases, we see more petty theft, property crime, and recidivism. The evidence isn’t alarmist, it’s consistent.
Safety isn’t just policing If we care about safety, not performative “law and order,” but actual community safety, we need to be funding the programs that keep people fed, housed, and healthy. Safety begins in the body: in a full stomach, in access to medication, in the sense that tomorrow might not be worse than today. When we defund those stabilizers, we shift the burden onto police departments, courts, and prisons. It’s a grotesque feedback loop: cut food aid, increase poverty, then spend exponentially more on incarceration.
The Columbia study estimated that for every dollar cut from SNAP, we see up to $20 in societal costs, costs paid by taxpayers, schools, hospitals, and law enforcement. So the question isn’t whether the United States will become less safe if SNAP is cut. The question is how much less safe and whether we’re willing to pay that moral and financial cost. A moral guide for policy I write this not just as an activist, but as a human being who has experienced economic and food insecurity in the past myself and as a gay, transgender man who’s been told, again and again, that my needs are expendable. You see, policy is never neutral, It’s a mirror that reflects what we believe about the worth of each other.
When we tear down the programs that feed our most vulnerable neighbors, we’re saying that hunger is an acceptable form of punishment. We’re saying that human rights can be balanced against a budget. I don’t believe that. None of us should.
What we can do if you care about safety, dignity, and human rights, here’s where to start:
- Protect and expand SNAP at the federal and state levels.
- Keep an eye on local food insecurity rates, and hold elected officials accountable to that data.
- Support community food banks and mutual aid networks that plug the holes when federal systems fall short.
- Vote for leaders who understand that safety is built on justice, not deprivation.
The truth is simple: when everyone can eat, everyone can rest a little easier. When no one goes hungry, we all become safer, not just as individuals, but as a nation that remembers what it means to be human.
About Rev. Dylan Thomas Cotter:
With over fifteen years of expertise in PR and strategy, Rev. Dylan Thomas Cotter stands out as a strategic advisor for elite clients across entertainment, technology, fitness, fashion and beauty. His dynamic life experience enhances his ability to elevate brand messages and drive impactful engagement.
A former adult entertainer, Dylan Thomas is proud gay transgender activist and author that has appeared in Vice, Rolling Stone, Out Magazine, Yahoo! News, Pride.com, Mashable and Newsweek that happily resides in the Hollywood Hills with his partner. His memoir Transgender & Triggering The Life of Dylan Thomas Cotter is available now at Barnes & Noble, Harvard Book Store, Book Soup and Skylight Books amongst other fine retailers and is distributed worldwide through Ingramspark.