Beyond Money: Improving Diets of Unhoused Americans Through Charitable Meal Programs

Unfortunately, for almost every single unhoused individual in the United States, nutrition serves as a daily obstacle, not just in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality. Note that in this paper, nutrition is defined as sustenance and micronutriental content, not purely calories. Although some research has been conducted to study the causes and effects of malnutrition in unhoused communities, few have voiced their suggestions for resolving the conflict. While this leads to a thorough assessment of the issue, discovering pathways to alleviate these conflicts serves just as crucial. In the context of this research, this paper discusses the poor nutritional quality of foods, lack of staffing and staff education, and budget/space constraints in charitable meal programs that contribute to houseless undernutrition. It also reviews relevant research on the current state of unhoused malnourishment and proposes feasible solutions for the issues mentioned. Due to an abundance of these affairs, solutions mentioned in this paper will attempt to directly target and solve the problems within a budget and time-friendly manner. Also note that the solutions in this paper do not include the use of unrealistic measures (i.e. increasing the budget of programs by hundreds of thousands of dollars). Therefore, only widely available suggestions such as introducing nutrient-dense bites to combat malnutrition and hosting educational programs to educate staff are assessed. Moreover, by examining studies conducted in various highly populated American cities, my research will encompass trends in charitable meal programs and homeless populations throughout the continental US.