The San Francisco Human Services Agency held the grand opening of the District 10 Community Market last week. The market provides free to low-cost food and social service resources for eligible residents in specified low-income and high-crime areas.
The Human Services Agency has allocated $5.5 million from taxpayer funds to the market to help “food insecure residents to receive food of their own choosing.” To be eligible to shop at the market, residents must meet specific criteria: they must be low-income, reside in certain parts of San Francisco, receive public assistance through programs, have dependents or a diet-related illness, and be referred by a community organization. These residents are given a benefits card to use once per month to shop.
The District 10 market is part of a “Food Empowerment Market” pilot program enacted by Ordinance 102-21 by the Human Services Agency. The ordinance enables the agency to fund nonprofit organizations to establish markets like District 10 for low-income individuals and their families.
Geofrea Morris, senior consultant of the District 10 Market, told the Center Square that the market “is a supplemental source for food. Food stamps should be the primary source. This is a supplemental source especially close to the end of the month when families are facing the pain, especially with inflation.”
District 10 Market services neighborhoods, including Hunters Point, that the U.S. Department of Agriculture classifies as “food deserts, or areas that lack reliable access to grocery stores and food resources.” The New York Post reported that the area is home to one of San Fransisco’s “largest public housing projects” and known for having high crime rates. In 2019, the Bayview-Hunters Point communities reported “143 robberies, 129 assaults, 195 burglaries.” Though these numbers have fallen in 2024, businesses in the area told the New York Post that crimes are being underreported by the state.
Weeks before the market opened its doors, San Francisco residents expressed their frustration with a similar free program operated by the city’s Department of Public Health that handed out free beer and vodka to homeless alcoholics using taxpayer funds. The city served “regimented doses of alcohol to voluntary participants …. to keep the homeless off the streets and relieve the city’s emergency services.”
