My parents have helped out at food shelf in the rural Midwest for a couple decades now, and the demand is way up, although not as high as it was during 2007-2008. The real unemployment rate is at record lows in that area, and wage growth is actually increasing, but not enough to keep up with ballooning grocery bills and rent hikes. So the families with lots of kids might have more income coming in from wage labor, but their costs are just out of control, and food aid is absolutely essential to keep the household afloat. I think what is not really appreciated is that there’s a huge shortage of rentals that have 5+ bedrooms (renting a house is the only real option).

I think the really cynical calculus from the political establishment is that these people are mostly non-voters, and so actually trying to address these problems is a waste of political capital.