Demand for Food Aid Rose in Cities
Demand for emergency food assistance in the nation’s cities increased an average of 18% in the last year, the U.S. Conference of Mayors reports.
The Washington-based group’s annual status report, based on a survey of 26 cities, indicates that the need for such food had the largest increase since 1992.
“Unfortunately, our nation’s unprecedented prosperity is not reaching a lot of our own citizens,” said Peter Clavelle, chairman of the conference’s task force on hunger and homelessness and the mayor of Burlington, Vt.
The report also found that about 21% of requests for food are not met. Slightly more than half of the responding cities reported turning away needy people because of a lack of resources.
The survey also indicates that requests for emergency shelter rose 12% over the previous year, the largest increase since 1994.
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