Center for Policy Research

Policy Brief

Policy Recommendations to Reduce Old Age Food Insecurity in the United States

Colleen M. Heflin and Madonna Harrington Meyer

September 2025

Colleen Heflin

Madonna Harrington Meyer

Public Administration & International Affairs Department

Sociology Department

Center for Policy Research

United States

Colleen Heflin

Portrait of a smiling person with short gray hair, wearing a blue ruffled shirt, set against a blurred green background.

Madonna Harrington Meyer

In 2023, 7.4 million adults ages 60 and over in the United States were food insecure. As the number of older people at risk of food insecurity in the U.S. continues to rise, effective policy responses are critical. The current policy responses to old age food insecurity are complex, costly, and not nearly effective enough.

Based on the book, Food for Thought: Understanding Older Adults Food Insecurity, this brief summarizes five policy recommendations to improve food insecurity among U.S. older adults. The authors recommend measuring food security in multidimensional ways, treating food insecurity as a health issue, adopting SNAP policies that increase benefits and participation, connecting food assistance programs with other social welfare programs, and increasing income support for older adults.

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CPR Policy Briefs present concise summaries of findings from recent research conducted by CPR affiliates in the areas of crime and the law, economic wellbeing and poverty, education, energy and the environment, families, health, public finance, social welfare, urban and regional economics, and other policy-relevant domains.