![\"Brooklyn's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20220427CityLimitsAtlanticYards-7916Dim1920X1200.jpg\")
The Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn, pictured here in 2022. (Adi Talwar\/City Limits) <\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019ve seen how Brooklyn has grown in prosperity and desirability, and I\u2019ve also seen that access to opportunity\u2014the hallmark of a just and healthy society\u2014has not kept pace.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn, pictured here in 2022. (Adi Talwar\/City Limits) <\/p>\n
Brooklyn is a borough of contradictions. It is a place of both striving and aspiration and of hardship and disadvantage.<\/p>\n If Brooklyn was its own city, it would be the fourth largest in America. It has more culture, energy, and options than most cities in the world. Brooklyn is hotter than ever\u2014and is less accessible to working people than ever, even though the appeal of this borough has always been its breathtaking range of humanity\u2014from dock workers to artists, people of means to people struggling to get by, and including people whose families come from every part of the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the same time, many in Brooklyn are getting priced out and forced to make a dollar stretch like never in recent history, particularly to afford a safe place to sleep. The city\u2019s recent True Cost of Living<\/a> report found that 61.5 percent of borough residents are unable to reliably afford what they need to survive. That\u2019s the second highest percentage in the city, trailing only the Bronx. It\u2019s a stark contrast to Brooklyn\u2019s image as a global destination.<\/p>\n This contrast has been on my mind lately, since starting this year as CEO of Brooklyn Community Services<\/a>, the oldest and largest provider of social services in the borough. I\u2019ve seen how Brooklyn has grown in prosperity and desirability, and I\u2019ve also seen that access to opportunity\u2014the hallmark of a just and healthy society\u2014has not kept pace. At the same time that some parts of the borough have seen a huge spike in real estate prices and a dearth of housing options, many longtime Brooklynites are having a tough time keeping their heads above water.<\/p>\n I see the effects in the services my organization provides. More and more people are coming to one of our nine Food for Families<\/a> distribution sites, where we give away 100 bags of fresh produce a week to those in need. Sometimes we run out of bags. Food deserts have long plagued poorer neighborhoods across New York City and we have accepted for too long that our working class neighbors don\u2019t deserve access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food options. That wouldn\u2019t happen if fresh food were both affordable and available in every neighborhood. Similarly, homeless shelters are an area of growth for BCS, which is a devastating reality for many of our most vulnerable neighbors.<\/p>\n While that and other services that we provide do help, they don\u2019t solve any of the underlying problems. Those include:<\/p>\n A lack of affordable housing. Not enough of it is being built in the borough, the city or the entire state, and the result of that is increased homelessness.<\/p>\n Turmoil in the job market, with a lack of clarity on how artificial intelligence is reshaping employment. But what is clear is that people on the lower end of the income spectrum are going to continue to be harmed disproportionately.<\/p>\n![\"CityViews](\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/wp-content\/plugins\/trx_addons\/components\/lazy-load\/images\/placeholder.png\")
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