Understanding hunger.

Byline: The Register-Guard

No issue is more deserving of gubernatorial leadership than Oregon's hunger problem. Gov. Ted Kulongoski announced a plan last week to end hunger in Oregon within five years - an ambitious goal, perhaps an unattainable one, but shame could come only from not trying to reach it.

For five years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ranked Oregon as having the highest percentage of hungry people in the nation. In 2002 the state slipped into second place, but too many Oregonians still lack the food they need - a continuing cause of misery for many and embarrassment for the rest.

Oregon's stubbornly high ranking among the nation's hungriest states seems incongruous. Oregon's poverty rate is near the national average. Oregonians' average household incomes are below the national average, particularly outside the Portland area, but people in many other states are worse off. And Oregon remains a land of plenty, where food is easy to grow and gather during many months of the year.

John Tapogna and Allison Suter, two researchers with the ECONorthwest economics consulting firm, examined Oregon's seemingly anomalous hunger ranking. Their findings are summarized in an article by Tapogna and ECONorthwest President Ed Whitelaw in the spring issue of Oregon Quarterly, the University of Oregon alumni magazine. The researchers found three factors that combine to explain why Oregonians are vulnerable to hunger: high unemployment, high rents and high rates of mobility.

Joblessness would obviously be associated with hunger, and Oregon's unemployment rate has been among the nation's highest in recent years. High rents are a less obvious, but plainly relevant, factor - and in 1999, nearly one in five Oregon renters spent 50 percent or more of their income on rent.

The researchers' most interesting finding is their identification of mobility as a factor in hunger. Oregonians move often - in 1999, one in five changed addresses. Such mobility means many people lack support from family members and have not had time to establish a network of support among neighbors, church members, co-workers and friends. When a layoff comes and the rent is due, many Oregonians are on their own, and hunger can be the result.

Understanding the causes of hunger can help guide a plan to end it. Kulongoski proposed a 40-point plan for ending hunger at his second annual Hunger Summit in Salem last week. The plan focuses on creating jobs that pay a living wage, creating a tax credit for low-income renters and other steps that would address unemployment and high rents. Ending the social isolation that results from mobility could also prove a productive part of a plan to end hunger - and institutions outside government could play a key role.

No one in Oregon should be hungry. Once it's understood what causes the seeming anomaly of hunger, Oregonians can move toward Kulongoski's goal of ending it.