The SF-Marin Food Bank announced in a sobering 8 a.m. press conference that, by 2025, a majority of the food-distribution services introduced during the pandemic will be closed or reduced, significantly affecting the growing number of hungry households in San Francisco.
Over the next two years, all 21 Pop-Up Pantries introduced during the pandemic will close. And, by January 2024, the Home Delivered Groceries program, serving seniors, families and people at their households will be reduced by 40 percent.
Currently, upwards of 18,000 households rely on the farmers market-style pop-ups each week. Around 13,000 San Francisco households receive weekly food deliveries.
The SF-Marin Food Bank serves upwards of 51,000 households weekly across all sites of distribution. Executive Director Tanis Crosby told reporters today that, by June 30, 2025, “We’re anticipating we will be shrinking to less than 40,000 households.”
Crosby stated that they are working on a smooth transition for the people who are able to remain enrolled in Food Bank programs.
The announcement comes after months of attempts to talk with the city about the need for increased funding amid fears of looming cuts. The organization has said that it is operating at an estimated $8 million deficit, which is likely to grow. Mayor London Breed’s 2023-2024 budget, signed in July, reduces the Food Bank’s allotment by $4 million, with an alleged $0 in funding for 2024-2025.
The $4 million number is 20 percent higher than pre-pandemic, but still does not meet the challenges San Francisco County is facing. The San Francisco Department of Health has stated that one in four city residents is at risk of hunger.
“The bottom line is, we did not serve all the people we wanted to serve before the pandemic, and that is also going to be true going forward,” Crosby said.
Participation in Food Bank programming jumped in 2020, when thousands across the county lost work and consistent access to food. At that time, the Food Bank was forced to cease distribution at a number of its permanent Neighborhood Pantries in San Francisco.
Funding cuts will also affect staff, shrinking the organization’s workforce from 253 employees to less than 200, a decrease of roughly 30 percent. While nobody will lose their job immediately, Crosby said, when cuts take place, they will disproportionately impact the programs team, affecting those operating pantries and other services working directly with the hungry.
“Food banks across the U.S. are reducing pandemic-era services,” said Crosby, citing funding cuts from all levels of government: Local, state and federal. Today, she said, the SF-Marin Food Bank is receiving “significantly less food from the USDA than the height of the pandemic.”
Nationwide, benefits for Americans relying on free groceries have shrunk, which is justified as compensating for the country’s swelling budget deficit.
In a statement on Tuesday, Mayor London Breed described the current circumstance as an “unfortunate reality,” and called for organizations and city agencies to “develop new approaches to address food insecurity.”
While Covid-19 is no longer considered an emergency, Crosby emphasized that barriers to food access are not going anywhere.
“There’s no vaccine for hunger,” she said. “It will take a community working together to end hunger.”
The food bank is a highly inefficient way to serve people in need. All those salaries and infrastructure costs to distribute crappy food to people who often throw away much of it would better go to cash outlays to people in need. I distributed food for them during the pandemic and I was dropping food off to seniors living in houses and neighborhoods nicer than mine. I know there are plenty of people who depend on the food but it’s because it their only option. But cash payments has been shown to be most cost effective and contribute to better quality diets.
I volunteered delivering food for them and I quit after seeing how many people game the system. They don’t vet anyone. No wonder they’re going under.
Like Joe Blow, I too delivered groceries across SF and western Marin. Along with my teenager, I delivered food to many, many people whose homes were worth 3-4x the value of my home. Certain subgroups of recipients were definitely gaming the system. Even my teenager said, “Mom, are you sure these people need free groceries?” I guess it was a very educational experience for her!
This same week, Mayor Breed announced a ballot measure that would allow police to engage in car chases over retail thefts, and Supervisor Ronen announced a total ban on sidewalk vending on Mission St. How come there’s always money to use police to punish people trying to feed themselves, but not to feed people?