Food insecurity and hunger in Hawaiʻi is a state of emergency.

One in three households experiences food insecurity — more than 250,000 people on Oʻahu alone. Families are skipping meals, kūpuna are choosing between food and medicine, and keiki are going to school hungry. It’s not for lack of food — it’s a matter of affordability and political priorities.

Hawaiʻi’s food banks are under unprecedented strain and recent federal funding cuts to USDA’s TEFAP program (he Emergency Food Assistance Program), reductions in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) allotments, and pending federal cuts to SNAP and Medicaid are further fueling the crisis.

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The federal shutdown was another reminder of how precarious food security is for so many of Hawaiʻi’s families, and Gov. Josh Green’s emergency response was necessary — but we cannot continue relying on crisis-driven, temporary fixes. Honolulu must build its own foundation for reliable, dignified access to food.

That is why two City and County of Honolulu Charter amendment proposals — Proposal 31: Right to Food and Proposal 119: Create a Food Security Fund — are essential. Together, they recognize food as a basic human right and provide the dedicated resources needed to uphold that right.

We import nearly 90% of what we eat, making our food supply vulnerable to high prices, shipping delays, and climate disruption. When people go hungry in a place as abundant as Hawaiʻi, it signals a deeper policy failure. Ending hunger is not complicated — it is a matter of choosing to invest in taking care of our people.

SNAP supports an average of 100,000 individuals on Oʻahu, delivering $35 million monthly to families and generating over $600 million in local economic activity each year.

When these funds are cut, the shock ripples through every grocery store, farm, and neighborhood. A gap of this magnitude cannot be closed by one-time emergency funding — it demands structural change.

Only 15% of households maintain the recommended 14-day emergency food supply — and among food insecure households, only 6%. With most of our food arriving through a port threatened by sea level rise, a disruption could quickly become catastrophic.

The city has taken steps by convening an emergency feeding task force, but without sustained funding, its capacity remains limited.

The Right to Food amendment affirms that every resident has the right to nutritious, affordable, and culturally appropriate food. It sets the moral and legal foundation for food access to be a core measure of community well-being — not an afterthought.

But rights require implementation.

A Permanent Municipal Priority

The Food Security Fund provides the mechanism: predictable, accountable, and long-term funding to actually reduce hunger, support Hawai‘i-based farmers, and strengthen local resilience.

Proposal 119 would address these vulnerabilities directly by designating a charter-level allocation from existing real property tax revenues — not through any tax increase. Just as Honolulu commits portions of its current budget to natural lands, affordable housing, and climate resilience, this measure ensures that food security is treated as a permanent municipal priority within the resources we already have.

The Food Security Fund would support:

• feeding programs that serve families most in need;
• city-run programs that increase access to healthy, affordable food grown in Hawaiʻi;
• grants to Hawaiʻi-based organizations to purchase, store, transport, or subsidize local food for food insecure communities; and
• rapid-release funding for emergency feeding operations during declared disasters, as well as preparedness planning

By creating a stable, protected funding stream, the fund ensures that food access and local food system development are not dependent on fluctuating federal aid or one-off appropriations. 
Together, these proposals would enable the city to:

• reduce household food insecurity by investing in organizations that deliver healthy food directly to families;
• strengthen Hawaiʻi’s food economy by keeping more food dollars circulating locally;
• advance the city’s broader cost-of-living priorities; and
• build emergency resilience through pre-planned, rapidly deployable feeding resources. 


Over time, the fund would institutionalize food security as a permanent local responsibility, ensuring that residents have reliable access to the food they need to thrive — during “blue sky” times and crises alike.

In a state where counties hold much of the planning and budgeting authority, Honolulu has both the responsibility and the opportunity to lead. The city can become the first in the nation to enshrine the Right to Food in its Charter while establishing a permanent Food Security Fund rooted in aloha ʻāina and collective care.

Food is not a luxury, commodity, or charity — it is a human right. Zero hunger must be our goal, and care for our people must be the standard by which we measure governance.

The Honolulu Charter Commission is now accepting written testimony. Click here for additional resources to support Proposal No. 31: Right to Food and Proposal No. 119: Create a Food Security Fund.