PROVIDENCE — The Community Food Bank of Rhode Island will issue its annual report on hunger in the state today and what is new is what hasn’t changed.

In the eight-year period between 1998 and 2006, the number of households experiencing hunger or missed meals has increased 1 percent to 11.3 percent — the equivalent of 48,000 homes.

Why, after years of efforts to tackle the problem of hunger, is the situation worsening?

“Poverty is the root cause,” says Andrew Schiff, executive director of the food bank.

Wages aren’t keeping up with the growing cost of living. The costs of some of those basics — home heating fuel, gasoline — are going through the roof. And the subprime mortgage crisis has many working families already living below the poverty level, paying high rents and steep mortgage payments that leave no money for food.

“For most middle-income people, you somehow absorb these increases in the basic cost of living,” said Schiff. “It hurts, you notice it, but the tendency is you pay that heating oil bill when it comes. The people we’re talking about … are paying that bill and then they don’t have money for food.”

Schiff said a push is now under way to get more people who are eligible for food stamps to apply for them.

In its hunger report, the food bank quotes federal figures showing that only 56 percent of those eligible to receive food stamps in Rhode Island actually receive them. Many people don’t know they qualify. Others refuse to apply.

The figure is not much different from other New England states with the exception of Maine, which reports 80-percent enrollment.

The state budget this year included $100,000 for the University of Rhode Island Feinstein Center to do outreach programs to three groups of people who have resisted applying for food stamps: the elderly, the working poor and immigrants.

The three groups have different reasons for not applying, said Robert McDonough, administrator of family and adult services in the Department of Humans Services.

“The elderly come from a different era and many don’t like the stigma of being on food stamps,” said McDonough. “Many believe they are taking them away from others more deserving, which they aren’t, or because they’ve owned their own home or whatever, don’t know they are eligible.”

Many of the working poor believe that since they have a job they don’t qualify, either, said McDonough, and many immigrants believe they are banned as well. (Illegal immigrants are.)

Through the outreach programs, center workers visit housing centers for the elderly and community service agencies and explain the advantages of the food stamp program.

The food stamp program is financed with federal dollars.

Eligibility is based on income and assets and poverty guidelines. Many people living in poverty work at low-wage jobs. For example, a single parent with two children who works full time for $7.40 an hour (the state minimum wage) earns $15,392 per year, which is still below the poverty line of $17,170.

Those who apply for food stamps must show documentation of expenses, including rent, mortgage and household expenses. Food stamps can only be spent on food. Applicants hear whether they have been accepted within 30 days.

The days of receiving actual paper stamps to fumble with at the cash register while people wait are long gone. Now, eligible candidates receive a debit card that can be swiped at the cash register. Every month the federal government electronically adds that month’s benefit onto the card.

The average Rhode Islander on food stamps receives about $197 a month.

Schiff, of the food bank, said the food stamp program — partially paid for by Rhode Island taxpayers — could also be an economic benefit to the state if more people took advantage of it.

For instance, if 80 percent of those eligible for food stamps actually received them, food stamp recipients would receive $35 million more for food assistance. With less pressure to feed their families, stamp recipients could spend more as consumers, boosting the economy.

McDonough, of human services, said studies show that for every federal dollar brought into the state it represents $1.84 of economic activity, so “if you think about it as being a federal program bringing in federal dollars then it is good… not to mention the health and well-being of the [food stamp ] recipients. They eat better, they have fewer health problems. It really is a nutrition program not a welfare program.”

tmooney@projo.com