Food Stamp Use Up 55% in San Francisco

Need for food assistance continues to rise in San Francisco. Requests for help from the San Francisco Food Bank are up 25%, and the number of people on food stamps continues to grow. Here's an update, from the San Francisco Examiner:

The number of San Franciscans on food stamps has grown by some 55 percent in the past 17 months. Today, about 41,743 San Franciscans rely on food stamps, according to San Francisco’s Human Services Agency.

But despite the recent spikes, San Francisco food-security advocates say the food-stamp program is not carrying its fair share of the burden. Today, just one-twentieth of San Franciscans are on food-stamp rolls, compared to one-eighth of all Americans.

One might imagine that disparity could simply mean there’s less hunger in wealthy San Francisco than elsewhere in the nation.

But, in fact, the San Francisco Food Bank believes the opposite is true. It estimates that fully one-quarter of all children and senior citizens and about one-fifth of adults in San Francisco live each day with food insecurity. That’s compared to a national average of about 15 percent, according to the latest estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The cost of living in San Francisco is a major problem for residents who need food stamps, according to food-security advocates.

Read the entire story here.