Chart courtesy of D.C. Policy Center
A D.C. Policy Center report released Monday provides a current look at D.C.’s food deserts, taking into account more than just how many grocery stores are in a certain area. The report’s author, Randy Smith, points out that food access in the city is “deeply connected to both poverty and transportation.”
Smith found that about 11.3 percent of the city’s area is considered a food desert. While most studies only factor in proximity to grocery stores, he defines food deserts as places where residents have to walk more than 0.5 miles to get to a grocery store or supermarket, over 40 percent of households have no vehicle available, and the median household income is less than 185 percent of the federal poverty level for a family of four.
He collected data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and D.C. Open Data, among other sources.
The results are still similar to other experts who’ve said Washingtonians who live east of the Anacostia River hunger for more healthy food (and food delivery) options. According to Smith’s findings, more than three-quarters of food deserts in D.C. are located in Wards 7 and 8. By area, the majority (46 percent) of all food deserts are located in Ward 8.
So it’s no surprise that food deserts are concentrated in Anacostia, Barry Farms, and Mayfair, according to the report. But it also names Ward 5’s Ivy City as an area with a high concentration of food deserts, despite the rapidly developing neighborhood welcoming a MOM’s Organic Market more than two years ago.
Graph courtesy of D.C. Policy Center
A 2010 report by D.C. Hunger Solutions called “Grocery Gap” showed that the store-to-resident ratio in Wards 4, 5, 7, and 8 was lower than the District average. Ward 7 had four full-service grocery stores for 73,856 residents and Ward 8 had three full-service grocery stores for 69,047 residents. Meanwhile, Ward 3 boasted 11 grocery stores for its 80,775 residents.
The nonprofit collected new data in 2016 showing that Ward 7 is down to two grocery stores and Ward 8 is down to one, the Washington City Paper reported.
The gaps across the city remain despite efforts such as the FEED Act, which targets food access in low-income neighborhoods, and the formation of D.C.’s Food Policy Council, which was established to coordinate citywide efforts to improve food access and grow the local food economy.
Additionally, local groups such as Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture, DC Hunger Solutions, DC Greens, and DC Central Kitchen are finding ways to get fresh food and produce to those in need.
But DC Central Kitchen’s chief development officer Alexander Moore told DCist last year that there’s still “critical gap” in infrastructure for food processing and distribution. “There’s a lot of missed opportunity in getting healthy food to the right places and the right people,” he said.
