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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus is a booming town, meaning prices are going up as more people come to the area and demand is high. Everyone is feeling the pinch, from prices at the gas pump to getting food at the grocery store.

Some families are now finding it hard to stretch their dollars, forcing them to prioritize their bills over their health. While a boomtown like Columbus brings population and economic opportunity, it also brings severe food insecurity.

Some families go several days without eating because of the lack of money or access to food. A new survey from the Ohio Association of Foodbanks shows hunger at crisis levels in Ohio and people are forced to choose between food or basic needs.

This story is part of 10TV's "Boomtown" initiative — our commitment to covering every angle of central Ohio's rapid growth. This includes highlighting success stories, shining a light on growing pains and seeking solutions to issues in your everyday life.

In the past year, Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio has seen a 32 percent increase in food pantry visits.

A recent study by the Ohio Association of Foodbanks is showing this is a trend not only happening locally, but throughout Ohio.

Second Harvest, which serves Lorain, Huron, Erie and Crawford counties, is actively working toward advancing specific legislation and government allocated dollars to help with the issue.

There are 12 food banks in the state that make up the Ohio Association of Foodbanks (OAF).

The study has shown that many residents say they are finding they must choose between buying food or paying for other essential household expenses like transportation, housing costs, medicine and utilities.

Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen and Social Center is in the heart of Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. Every weekday morning, the soup kitchen is overflowing with people looking for a meal.

“We have had a 27% increase in meals since May of this year,” said Georgine Getty, the soup kitchen's executive director.

But the number hasn't just gone up in 2024.

“Before COVID we were doing about 200 meals a day, and now we’re on average of doing well over 600 meals a day," Getty said.

Derek Smith mans Our Daily Bread's takeout window, and he told us he's noticed the lines get longer as the weeks go by.

“We seen a different type of demographic coming here now. At first it was just the underprivileged, the disadvantaged and the homeless, and now it's everybody," Smith said.

The Ohio Association of Foodbanks , which represents Ohio's 12 Feeding America food banks and thousands of hunger relief centers in the state, investigated recent hunger-related issues.

Executive Director Joree Novotny said that issues surrounding hunger continue to grow.

“Food insecurity has been on the rise for the last couple of years,” Novotny said.

The nation’s poverty rate rose last year even as incomes improved, the government reported on Tuesday, reflecting higher prices and the expiration of the last pandemic relief programs.

The share of Americans living in poverty as defined by the Census Bureau’s “supplemental” measure, which takes into account a broader range of benefits and expenses than the official poverty rate, rose to 12.9 percent in 2023, from 12.4 percent in 2022. The median household income, adjusted for inflation, rose to $80,610, finally regaining its prepandemic level.

Poverty levels have risen anew in recent years after a wave of pandemic relief aid — and an exceptionally strong labor market that lifted the wages of many at the bottom of the pay spectrum — collided with the most rapid inflation in a generation.

The Ohio Association of Foodbanks has recently sounded the alarm over worsening conditions in the state's hunger relief network, with food insecurity continuing to rise. A new report says Ohioans are forced to make difficult choices between food and other essential needs.

Joree Novotny, executive director, Ohio Association of Foodbanks, said this concerning trend is not limited to Ohio but reflects a broader national struggle.

"Things for us in the Charitable Hunger Relief Network in Ohio and across the rest of the country are not getting better. They're actually worsening," Novotny said.

Despite these challenges, the federal government has yet to reauthorize the Farm Bill, which Novotny says is vital for funding programs such as the Emergency Food Assistance Program. As a result, food banks are receiving less food, even as demand increases.

Novotny emphasized the need for both state and federal action to prevent further hardship.

In 2022, the USDA launched the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, also known as LFPA, but in Ohio, the program goes by Ohio CAN. The federal program has allocated tens of millions of dollars to food banks across the state to purchase food products from local growers for distribution, but the funding for the program is expiring at the end of the year.

Ohio CAN helps smaller operation growers and farmers gain access to distribution chains, such as Ohio food banks. Not only has this program helped connect more Ohioans to fresh, healthy produce, dairy, and meat products, but it’s been a major economic driver in helping smaller growing operations thrive.

Ohio will receive $26.5 million in LFPA funding in its roughly three-year period. Executive Director For The Ohio Association Of Food Banks, Joree Novotny, said that despite the program's positive feedback, Ohio CAN funding may not be renewed. This is because funding is not yet permanently authorized in the Farm Bill process passed by Congress every five to six years. Novotny said the 2024 election cycle hasn't made a possible renewal any easier either.