Report: Brooklyn leads NYC in hungry families

Newly released statistics show that Brooklyn leads the city in the number of hungry residents. Mayor Bill de Blasio joined the New York Coalition Against Hunger as the group announced that nearly half

News 12 Staff

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Nov 25, 2015, 4:51 AM

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Updated 3,262 days ago

Newly released statistics show that Brooklyn leads the city in the number of hungry residents.

Mayor Bill de Blasio joined the New York Coalition Against Hunger as the group announced that nearly half of all working New York City families are struggling to keep food on the table.

"The number of people hungry here in Brooklyn dwarfs any other borough," says the coalition's Joel Berg.

The number represents households where at least one person holds a steady job and still can't put food on the table consistently.

In addition, the coalition says that one out of four Brooklyn children is living in a food-insecure home.

Mayor de Blasio has proposed pressuring private-sector employers into increasing wages in order to preserve the middle class.

Advocates say they hope the state's approval of a $15 an hour minimum wage for fast food workers will alleviate the problem and eventually lead to higher minimum wages in other sectors.

Among the workers struggling to pay for enough food is Carlos Vega, who cleans airplane cabins at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Vega works a full 40 hours a week, but says he barely earns enough to cover his rent and food costs.

At St. John's Bread and Life food pantry in Bed-Stuy, officials say they've seen a sharp increase in working-class people like Vega who come in for hot meals.