Drawing Fresh Foods to Low-Income Neighborhoods

Through a range of financial incentives and zoning regulations, states and cities are bringing supermarkets to previously underserved low-income communities:

Through the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, Mr. Brown, who owns 10 other supermarkets in the Philadelphia area, got a $1 million grant and $7 million in federal New Markets tax credits, which are aimed at stimulating investment in low-income communities. Several customers said the prices at Mr. Brown’s store were fairer than what they had been used to.

This is not a new story.  I remember the excitement around the Pathmark on 125th in NYC when I lived there 10 years ago.  But for such an "old" story, progress certainly is slow!

Lower-income clients tend not to buy the higher-margin, more expensive products, and security costs are higher in poorer neighborhoods, explained Brown as some of the reasons why low-margin businesses like grocery stores so infrequently serve these neighborhoods.  I accept these reasons from someone who knows the business, while also wondering how accurate these assessments are.  I remember working with the Lower East Side Girls Club back in 2001, and listening to the Executive Director describe the purchasing power of low-income communities compared to what banks and other potential businesses and vendors described.  It's somewhat oxymoronic that we lament the lack of income in low-income communities than castigate poor households for owning televisions and the like.

It's tragically ironic to herald the opening of this new store as 1B people go hungry around the world - with the greatest growth in the developed world.  Let's hope goverment and its trusty friend the market can continue to put their heads together to creatively address this increasingly acute injustice.

(Photo by Paul Lowry of the Pathmark in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn, another subsidy deal)