Hunger Returns
As pandemic-era food benefits recede, Bayview-Hunters Point residents struggle with rising economic insecurity
By Aditi Praveen Kariyanahalli • Bay City News
The COVID-19 pandemic created a catastrophic public health emergency that ravaged the entire world. However, it also brought an unexpected silver lining for low-income Californians: an increase in food benefits.
Through CalFresh Emergency Allotments — a program designed to increase benefits to households utilizing food assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or CalFresh during the pandemic — approximately 3 million households in California were able to utilize these allotments to keep themselves and their families fed for over two years.
However, as pandemic-era policies began to wane in 2023, so did the federal government’s dedication to continue funding these distribution programs. With the passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act by Congress, households that utilized CalFresh or SNAP saw their benefits drop up to 40 percent with the end of emergency allotments.
The end of Emergency Allotments didn’t signify an end to food insecurity rates in San Francisco. In fact, according to the California Association of Food Banks, many food distribution services in the state noticed an uptick in those experiencing food insecurity post-pandemic, at a time when the cost of food was beginning to rapidly increase.
According to Tanis Crosby, executive director of the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, food insecurity was at “historic lows” during the pandemic.
“We saw unprecedented investments and it worked. Prior to the pandemic, our research indicated one in five people living in San Francisco and Marin were experiencing food insecurity, and we anticipate that [need] is going up. We’re seeing need now greater than during the pandemic and that’s very concerning,” Crosby said.
Crosby said many people in San Francisco now view CalFresh as a less attractive resource due to the end of Emergency Allotments. And those who live in low-income areas are the ones experiencing the most insecurity.
Increasing food insecurity in Bayview-Hunters Point
For neighborhoods like Bayview-Hunters Point in San Francisco, compounding governmental neglect has created some of the poorest health indicators citywide. Due to being considered a food desert — an urban area with limited access to fresh, nutritious foods — by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, many low-income residents suffer because of the inaccessibility and unaffordability of food.
According to the 2023 San Francisco Biennial Food Security and Equity Report, Bayview– Hunters Point has the largest gap between its median household income — $42,591 — and the self-sufficiency standard — $112,125. Indicating that most working families in Bayview– Hunters Point make significantly less than what they need, given the cost of living in San Francisco.
Additionally, Bayview-Hunters Point is ranked in the top four ZIP codes in the city with age-adjusted hospitalization rates for diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, with up to three times the city’s average age-adjusted hospitalization rate for these conditions.
According to a San Francisco County Transportation Authority report released in 2022, the percentage of Bayview-Hunters Point households living in poverty — 42% — is almost double that of the entire city’s 24% rate.
And with the diminishing of food distribution resources, coupled with rising economic insecurity, many Bayview–Hunters Point residents have been left hungry — again.
Fighting food insecurity: District 10 Community Market
In 2021, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed the Food Empowerment Market Fund, which created markets in food deserts within the city to combat hunger and food insecurity. This legislation led to the opening of the District 10 Community Market in Bayview-Hunters Point in June, an impactful attempt to fight post-pandemic food insecurity within the neighborhood.
The community market is the city’s first government-funded free grocery store for Bayview-Hunters Point residents who qualify.
Geoffrea Morris, co-founder and lead consultant for the community market, is a Bayview native and through her time working to establish this fund, understood the importance of placing this market in Bayview-Hunters Point.
First: A variety of produce available for patrons to select in the District 10 Community Market in the Bayview neighborhood in San Francisco, Calif. Last: The sign for containers of lemon pepper is written in four languages in the seasoning section on Aug., 2, 2024. (Aditi Praveen Kariyanahalli/Bay City News)
“You’ve got to know that every apple, every bell pepper, every type of fruit that comes into the city and county of San Francisco comes through Bayview every day,” said Morris. “But that high-quality produce that’s coming in through Bayview, is not being seen on Bayview shelves.”
And although the market may not have the bandwidth or reach that CalFresh Emergency Allotments did, it has acted as an innovative way to serve low-income, food-insecure residents, while still maintaining choice and dignity.
Inside the market
The market is located in an unassuming brick building between Quesada and Revere avenues on Third Street. Upon entering, patrons must first provide their referral information and food assistance qualifications to the market managers before beginning to shop.
Within the modest grocery store, some patrons browse through fresh produce, picking up bananas and determining if the color appears good and others are glancing through the dry food section, gathering containers of all-purpose flour and lemon pepper seasoning.
But unlike the average grocery store, there’s a calmer atmosphere, as if the rush has been taken out of grocery shopping. Two mothers are standing off to the side of the market, next to the bagging counters, entertaining their children.
One of the market’s patrons, Britney Lopez, comments on the unique atmosphere of the experience.
“It’s pretty cool, I have never been in a place like this,” said Lopez. “Everyone is so nice. I just love it.”
Cathy Davis, executive director of Bayview Senior Services, which runs the community market, stated that the market’s grocery store setup provides a unique level of autonomy to clients, as opposed to traditional food pantries or distribution sites.
“It means being able to offer free food in a dignified manner, allowing people to have choice, allowing their cultural needs to be met,” said Davis. “People do feel empowered when they come in there, that they can make a choice of what they want for their family. They’re not just given a bag of food. We’re really trying to listen to what they want.”
According to Morris, the co-founder of the market, there are 600 Bayview-Hunters Point families enrolled in the program and they hope to eventually have 1,500 enrolled.
To end hunger, we need good policy. We need to get conditions where people can earn a living wage and where we address the immediate consequences of food insecurity.
Tanis Crosby, San Francisco-Marin Food Bank
Many experts believe the key to addressing widespread poverty is combating inept government policy.
“To end hunger, we need we need good policy,” said Crosby from the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. “We need to get conditions where people can earn a living wage and where we address the immediate consequences of food insecurity. We want to address the conditions that are creating these untenable circumstances in the first place.”
San Francisco aims to do so by creating similar food empowerment markets in the future, with the District 10 Market serving as a pilot program. But, with the city’s looming budget deficit, the pace and possibility of establishing them are unclear.
First: A Bayview man travels on the bus with his personal grocery cart. Last: Passersby walk by the District 10 Community Market in the Bayview neighborhood in San Francisco, Calif., on Aug., 2, 2024. (Aditi Praveen Kariyanahalli/Bay City News)
“The D10 Community Market is not supposed to be the only empowerment market, per se in the city,” said Morris. “But right now, the city is facing an enormous budget deficit. So this [market] is still a pilot to see how effective it is. The more the D10 Community Market is successful, the more likely other neighborhoods, like the Tenderloin, like the Excelsior, will be able to get funds out of the Food Empowerment Market Fund.
Morris predicts that “over the horizon, maybe in the next two to three years” another community market will pop up in San Francisco and be able to join the effort of fighting post-pandemic food insecurity.
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