San Diego, California – The number of San Diego County residents living without reliable access to nutritious meals has climbed to levels not seen since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new findings released Wednesday by the San Diego Hunger Coalition.
The coalition, which measures what it calls “nutrition insecurity,” defines the crisis as a lack of access to three nutritious meals a day. By analyzing U.S. Department of Agriculture data and local cost-of-living indicators, researchers have found that over a quarter of county residents—approximately 26 percent—now face food insecurity.
“We have not seen numbers like this since 2020,” said Joseph Kendrick, Research Manager at the San Diego Hunger Coalition. “Food should be considered a basic right, and a lot of people in this community are hungry.”…