More New Yorkers struggling with food insecurity, report finds

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00:00In the planet's most famous urban enclave, New Yorkers have been hit by food insecurity

00:05as food pantries all over the city are seeing an uptick in visitors and aid-seekers,

00:10including those with work but struggling to make ends meet.

00:14VOA's Trina Trinh tells us more.

00:19At Food Bank for New York City, workers are busy moving and packing donated food

00:24headed to local food pantries and soup kitchens.

00:27We are one of the largest hunger relief organizations serving all five boroughs.

00:32We operate and support over 90% of the zip codes that are located here in our city,

00:37and we do that through close partnership with over 800 nonprofit partners.

00:42It's a busy time of year, as many Americans will join family and friends

00:46to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday.

00:48But a new report finds that in New York, the largest U.S. city,

00:51an increasing number of its residents are struggling to eat.

00:55New York-based philanthropy Robinhood tracked usage of the city's food pantries,

01:00finding that before the COVID-19 pandemic,

01:031 in 5, or 20% of adults, used a food pantry at least once between 2015 and 2019.

01:10That has jumped to 31%, or nearly 1 in 3 adults, in the years since.

01:16The face of hunger has also changed, Tisdale says.

01:19What we see now is that more and more working families

01:23are visiting local food pantries and soup kitchens,

01:26and actually the smallest percentage of those visiting soup kitchens or food pantries are homeless men.

01:31There's this false mentality like, oh, these folks just want a handout,

01:36when really I think people are really struggling to just make ends meet.

01:40Many are employed, according to the Robinhood report,

01:43which found that 2 in 3 New Yorkers who visited food pantries were also working.

01:48We lost a lot of jobs in the pandemic.

01:52But unfortunately, a lot of the jobs that returned or just came online

01:57were really those that are just not paying enough.

01:59There is not significant wage growth.

02:02Wages aren't keeping pace with other major costs, adding to New Yorkers' financial burdens.

02:08Because of all of those mitigating factors,

02:10now New Yorkers are finding it harder and harder for $1 to stretch as far as it did before.

02:16Food insecurity affects 1.3 million New Yorkers, according to the Food Bank.

02:20And it spans a spectrum of users.

02:22For some households, pantries are critical.

02:25For others, a preventative measure.

02:27There is a trifecta of hardship in New York City,

02:29and the trifecta of hardship is the high cost of housing, child care,

02:34and also basic necessities like food and utilities.

02:38The affordability crisis has resulted in a more diverse group of people visiting food pantries.

02:44And it's why some experts say government funding is vital,

02:47even as the new administration has signaled impending cuts to certain programs.

02:52This election came down to kitchen table issues,

02:56and food is very much so a kitchen table issue.

02:59And this is an opportunity for the incoming administration

03:03to really bolster the safety net and to make those investments.

03:08Otherwise, Alfon says, the food pantries will likely attract even more people in need.

03:13Tina Trinh, VOA News, New York.

03:17♪♪♪

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