During this past winter, which was the coldest here since 1985 and unusually wet, Kirei Mei Johnson slept most nights in a tent in city parks. “You’re shivering and freezing and you can’t warm up,” Ms. Johnson said. “There’s no insulation in tents.” In early April, the 24-year-old moved into a house for the first time in years. It measures 8 feet by 12 feet and sits on cinder blocks near 24 other brand-new tiny houses on a vacant lot off a busy street in northern Seattle.

It should come as no surprise that Americans hold strong opinions about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, colloquially known as “food stamps.” But there appears to be more of a bipartisan consensus on the matter than heated rhetoric on the matter might suggest. According to a study released Wednesday by the Voice of the People, a nonpartisan polling group, and conducted by University of Maryland researchers, an overwhelming majority of American voters of both parties favor restricting SNAP benefits from being used to buy soda and candy, as well as incentivizing fruit and vegetable purchases and increasing the overall amount of SNAP benefits available.

In New Orleans, we are all too familiar with the feeling of homelessness. After Hurricane Katrina, literally all of us were without a home. We believe it is unacceptable that in one of the world’s richest, most powerful countries there are people living and dying on our streets. This is an urgent problem. It is a public health crisis, and it is one that has been with us for a very long time. Last year, 44 homeless people died on our streets and many more struggle to get the care they need. Many are working poor, disabled or have other health problems.These people are not nameless, faceless strangers. They are in fact our brothers and sisters, friends, family and neighbors.

The biggest hunger relief organization in the U.S. is using technology to help restaurants, grocery stores, and other businesses fight food waste. In honor of Earth Day on Saturday, Feeding America launched a new tech platform called MealConnect. As its name implies, the free service taps into the organization’s large network, connecting businesses that have surplus food with thousands of food banks and other meal programs.

The number of New York City public school students living in homeless shelters has increased in each of the last five years, reaching nearly 33,000 in the 2015-16 school year, the city’s Independent Budget Office said in a report on Monday. That is 4,000 more students than at any point during the previous academic year, an increase of 15 percent.

San Diego’s homeless crisis is rapidly getting worse. Of course, regular visitors to downtown or practically any beach area knew this already. Sections of America’s Finest City are turning into Calcutta, as officials leave severely disabled people to fend for themselves. Meanwhile, well-housed taxpayers wonder which politician, judge or police chief thinks it’s a good idea to allow open drug use, public defecation and pugnacious panhandling in our communities.

A guest column was published April 15 in The Bee’s “Valley Voices” regarding The Salvation Army and our work here in the United States. I would like to correct some inaccuracies and clarify the mission of The Salvation Army. Our mission is “to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.” This includes providing services for those living in poverty, addicted to drugs and alcohol, and helping those who are homeless.

Over the last ten years, a record number of Americans have entered into the rental market. But even as demand for affordable – which is defined as when cost doesn’t exceed 30 percent of the median family income in a given area – rental units are skyrocketing, the supply is either stagnant or plummeting.

College students live on ramen noodles. College students couch-surf. These popular images can obscure more ominous realities: hunger and the little acknowledged problem that some do not have a place to live at all. “‘Homeless college student’ seems like a contradiction in terms,” said Paul Toro, a psychology professor at Wayne State University who studies poverty and homelessness. “If you’re someone who has the wherewithal to get yourself into college, well, of course you should be immune to homelessness. But that just isn’t the case.”

The law’s passage is a victory for anti-hunger activists, who have long been critical of lunch-shaming practices that single out children with insufficient funds on their electronic swipe cards or who lack the necessary cash. These practices can include making the child wear a wrist band or requiring the child to perform chores in exchange for a meal.