By Tera Ashley, Director of Food Access
The USDA’s published report “Low-Income and Low-Supermarket-Access Census Tracts,” revealed in 2017 that nearly 39.5 million U.S. residents lived in areas defined as both low-income and having low supermarket access. These regions can be referred to as LILA (low-income, low-access) areas, but they are most commonly known as “food deserts,” a term coined in the 1990s to define locations in the United Kingdom with low supermarket access. Though the definition of the term has varied since its conception, the most widely used one comes from the USDA: “An area with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly such an area composed of predominantly lower income neighborhoods and communities.”
The USDA uses even more specific parameters to define food deserts in urban settings: “low-income census tracts (tracts with a poverty rate of 20% or greater) where a significant number of people (at least 500) or share of the population (at least 33%) live greater than one mile from the nearest supermarket, super center, or large grocery store.” It is important to note that, in measuring food accessibility of vehicle-less urban households, the distance indicator lowers from 1 mile to 0.5 mile from a supermarket.
In more recent years, the term “food swamp” was invented to describe areas in which options for unhealthy food abound (such as convenience stores or fast food purveyors), all the while healthy food options continue to have restricted access. As time progresses, the term food swamp may come to be more commonplace than its predecessor. Jonatan Fielding and Paul Simon hint at this in their article, Food Deserts or Food Swamps?, “In many disadvantaged communities, the food environment is more swamp than desert, with a plethora of fast food; convenience stores selling calorie-dense packaged foods, super-sized sodas, and other sugar-loaded beverages; and other non-food retail venues selling junk food as a side activity.” It should come as no surprise, then, that in addition to the typical hurdles that a low-income resident may face, studies have linked residing in food deserts and food swamps with disproportionately high rates of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases. It is important to note here that “healthy food” can, at times, be subjective. To avoid confusion, studies often measure the availability of fresh fruit and vegetables to gauge food security in LILA areas.
It may be tempting to search for a silver bullet of sorts to solve the issue of low access to fresh fruit and vegetables in food deserts and food swamps, such as building a new grocery store in a LILA area. However, a “solution” of that nature would require there to exist only a single cause to an area having low access — proximity — when, in fact, there are several interconnected contributing factors to low access. Indeed, factors of proximity, food quality, food affordability, systemic racism, and access to efficient, reliable public transportation all converge to create food deserts and food swamps. It is the latter, access to efficient, reliable public transportation, that will serve as the focal point of this three-part series.
The Importance of Public Transportation
Although it is estimated that over 89 percent of U.S. households own vehicles, households with lower incomes are more likely to not own a vehicle. Financial challenges, including the cost of the car itself, along with maintenance and repairs, insurance premiums, and fluctuating fuel costs can be prohibitive for low-income households. Other factors, such as mental or physical disabilities, and even drivers’ license exams not offered in a resident’s native language could also contribute to a lack of a household vehicle or the inability to drive. Whatever the contributing factor(s) for not owning a vehicle, the number of low-income tracts with a significant number of households that do not own a vehicle and live more than 0.5 mile from a supermarket experienced a four percent increase between 2010 and 2015.
Not having access to a vehicle can have a negative impact on a LILA resident’s ability to access fresh fruits and vegetables. As found in Stuart Strome’s study, Elements of Access: The Effects of Food Outlet Proximity, Transportation, and Realized Access on Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in Food Deserts, “respondents who did not use their own car to buy fresh fruits and vegetables and were from food insecure households were only about 40% as likely to consume fresh fruits and vegetables as other respondents.” To combat food insecurity among LILA households without vehicle ownership, the availability of public transportation is paramount. The increased mobility that often comes with efficient, reliable public transportation may affect the accessibility of fresh fruits and vegetables in three ways: increased affordability, increased variety, and elevated quality. We will explore all of these ways in part two of this series.