Albany

New Yorkers agree on at least one thing: No one should go hungry.

An overwhelming 96 percent of Empire State residents say everyone should have access to food, according to a survey released Tuesday by Siena Research Institute.

A majority of the 804 respondents also said there are significant barriers between low-income people and access to food, including affordability, meal planning and transportation.

Additionally, the survey found, roughly half of New Yorkers donate food or money to a charity that focuses on hunger. That volunteerism comes at a time when Capital Region food pantries are providing meals and services at record levels.

In 2015, food-insecure people made more than 244,000 visits to local food banks, according to Capital District Food Pantries, a coalition of 56 pantries that distribute food in Albany, Rensselaer and Saratoga counties. The role of such organizations has increased in recent years as the number of food-insecure people locally topped 82,000, according to Feeding America.

Some organizations have had to expand their facilities to handle the uptick. The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York in Colonie, for example, is currently seeking $500,000 in state funding for a $2 million expansion of its 62,000-square-foot facility from which more than 100,000 pounds of food are moved in and out each day.

The growing demand is due at least in part to decades-long wage stagnation, said Mark Quandt, Regional Food Bank executive director.He said that since the 1980s, the facility has served more and more people who are working full-time, but still unable to afford basic necessities. That has been exacerbated, he said, as post-recession gains increasingly go to the wealthiest Americans. (Between 2009-2012, the wealthiest one percent of Americans captured 91 percent of all income gains, according to research by University of California Berkeley economist Emmanuel Saez.)

Statewide, about one in eight New Yorkers received food from a local pantry or meals program, according to Siena, and 17 percent use government programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. That number is much higher among poorer New Yorkers, with 28 percent of New Yorkers earning less than $50,000 annually having used food banks and 40 percent relying on some form of government assistance.

The US. Department of Agriculture reported that about 43.6 million people - or 7 percent of all Americans - use food stamps under SNAP, a number that has grown in the last two decades as eligibility requirements were broadened under President George W. Bush and as fallout from the 2008 recession worsened.

A 2016 report from Feeding America found 14 percent of New Yorkers do not have access to adequate food resources.

RDownen@timesunion.com - 518-454-5018 - Follow @RobertDownenTU