De Blasio: Sixth of NYC Residents Don’t Have Enough Food

More than 1.4 million New Yorkers don’t have enough to eat on a daily basis, placing a strain on charities and highlighting the need for more government intervention, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.

The number of New York City residents who are estimated to live in “food insecure households” outnumbers the total population of all but seven U.S. cities, according to advocates.

“People overwhelmingly don’t want to have to choose between food and the rent or food and health care. But they have no choice,” de Blasio said. “That’s not a society that’s firing on all cylinders; that’s not us at our best.”

De Blasio, a first-term Democrat, said the hunger crisis in the city required more than just generosity from private citizens or corporations. He called for greater aid from Washington and Albany and said that an increase of the minimum wage to $15 would lift 800,000 New Yorkers out of poverty.

“One job, two jobs, even three jobs at the minimum wage we have, and with the cost of living in this city, it’s not enough,” the mayor said. “People still have to make those extraordinarily tough choices between the basics. And that’s why we need to make a series of changes.”

This article appeared in print on page 36 of the November 25th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.