According to a survey of 27 of the cities which comprise The U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness, San Franciscans have become increasingly reliant on food assistance, even as our number of homeless citizens remained stable.
Overall, says the report, SF had a 41% increase in requests for food assistance, and food pantries distributed more than 42 million pounds of food, for a 16% increase over the year before.
Nonetheless, food pantries, the report says, have turned clients away due to lack of resources, and city was unable to meet 30 percent of the overall demand for food assistance.
The WSJ notes that those stats “echoed nationwide findings,” with all but one of the cities surveyed saying they had an increase in food demand and distribution.
The report also says that the number of homeless people in SF stayed stable at around 6,000, and that shelters did not have to turn away anyone last year. We’re one of is one of 12 cities surveyed with a homeless resident count that stayed the same or dropped.
Want more news, sent to your inbox every day? Then how about subscribing to our email newsletter? Here’s why we think you should. Come on, give it a try.