Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Food access in the United States is one of the most stringent policy issues that communities face, with vast implications for equality, health, and economic development. Food apartheid is connecting to many health concerns, the crime rate, and the lack of resources (economic, industry, spatial). Earlier research inspects the characteristics of communities with a limited number of supermarkets, while crime has been mostly neglected. The researcher focuses on social equity challenges and food insecurities in the Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC) public housing developments and exploring their linkage to blue-collar crime and supplies future policy directions to overcome said inequities. One of the HABC goals is to improve the housing and quality of life for the people they served. By not ensuring the community has the necessities of life, they are failing at reaching their goal. Food deserts in Baltimore City is an area where residents must travel more than one-quarter of a mile to reach a supermarket. The researcher moves away from the term food deserts to food apartheid; apartheid covers the systematic lack of access to healthy food. Food apartheid is a relentless social construct that devalues human beings and assumes that people are unworthy of having access to nutritious food. With limited food resources and loss of other community capital, the area is facing an increase in blue-collar crime.