San Francisco opened a city market Sunday where qualifying residents can receive their groceries for 'free,' a program costing city taxpayers $5.5 million. The Food Empowerment Market is aimed at easing burdens for food stamp holders who may run out of resources toward the end of each month. Geoffrea Morris, who pushed the legislation through city government in 2021, argued that the market is 'supplemental' and not meant to be the sole method of feeding people.
The market largely resembles a typical U.S. grocery store, with shoppers taking carts through aisles to grab the goods they need. Everything is then weighed and scanned at checkout to track inventory. Like many cities in California, San Francisco is struggling with a major homelessness problem. The food program comes weeks after some residents were outraged at another city program providing free beer and vodka to homeless alcoholics.
It's really conflicting to give alcohol to alcoholics because it's a disease. It's a condition that is basically an obsession of the mind that turns into an allergy of the body. And it's a disease that they can't help,' another San Francisco resident told Carter. 'You're enabling, and the possibility is for them to die, end up in an institution or death.'