Suburban Middle-Class Filling Food Banks

Dot-com Denver saw a 40% increase in demand for handouts as high-tech workers feel the pinch of high unemployment and high housing costs.

1 minute read

July 20, 2004, 12:00 PM PDT

By Jeffrey Goodman


Across the nation, charitable food banks are seeing an increasing number of first-time users, as well as seemingly well-off suburbanites, looking for aid. Despite the stigma, many people simply have no other choice. The leading factor, experts say, is rent; many families, even 'working poor,' spend two-thirds of their income on rent alone. For the middle-class, as the tech industry narrows, former employees become forced into low-paying jobs but still must pay suburban mortgages. The operators of many food banks, as well as the Urban Institute, want to see the government both expand food stamps and subsidize housing.

Thanks to Jeffrey Goodman

Monday, July 19, 2004 in Boston Herald

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