New research highlights urgency of hygiene poverty in our communities

In their paper “Access to Dignity: Policy and Advocacy Opportunities for Ending Hygiene Poverty in Washington State”, the authors explore the prevalence of the critical yet widely under-addressed issue of essential hygiene access and the barriers faced by hundreds of thousands in our state.

Cover page of the research paper titled “Access to Dignity: Policy and Advocacy Opportunities for Ending Hygiene Poverty in Washington State” co-authored by Mara Bloom, MPA; Olivia Ruuska, MPA; Saleena Salango, MPA; Matt Stoia, MSW, MPA

The paper’s abstract states:

Access to hygiene products such as soap, toothpaste, diapers, menstrual supplies, and household cleaning items are consistently supported in literature as a substantial, and largely unaddressed, form of material deprivation for low-income households and individuals across the United States and beyond. This paper provides a number of recommendations for both policy and advocacy on how Essentials First and the Essential Needs Coalition may hone their strategy to end hygiene poverty in Washington state. These recommendations were reached by utilizing Grounded Theory to analyze existing policy, perform a meta-analysis of existing research, and develop actionable themes from conducted interviews. From this analysis, this report was able to develop four noteworthy policy options: 1) Exempting hygiene products from sales and use tax; 2) Pursuing proactive legislation that enables SNAP/WIC funds in Washington to be used for hygiene products if permitted federally; 3) Creating personal hygiene benefits for TANF, Medicaid, and CHIP recipients; and 4) Expanding institutional mandates to ensure hygiene product access in state-run correctional facilities. Additionally, this report provides five advocacy recommendations: 1) Building Essential’s First’s internal capacity and influence; 2) Honing messaging around the issue of hygiene poverty; 3) Developing a more formal structure for the Essential Needs Coalition; 4) Expanding the reach of the Essential Needs Coalition by including allies from broader issue areas; and 5) Deepening Essentials First’s role in the Washington Legislature. Collectively, these recommendations form the basis of a comprehensive policy and advocacy plan for Essentials First and the Essential Needs Coalition to more effectively champion hygiene access in the State of Washington.

You can read or download the full paper here.

Essentials First and the Essential Needs Coalition will be breaking down the abundant information and opportunities included in this paper here on our website and on our social media platforms over the coming months. We look forward to diving deeper into this analysis of the critical gap in services we are facing and building together toward lasting solutions for everyone in our state and beyond.

Our deepest gratitude to the members of our consulting team at the UW Evans School of Policy and authors of this paper for their hard work and dedication:

Mara Bloom, MPA

Olivia Ruuska, MPA

Saleena Salango, MPA

Matt Stoia, MSW, MPA