Can Publicly-Owned Grocery Stores Solve our Affordability Crisis?

We Can Do Better · Oct 15, 2026 · 34m · transcript

This week, we welcome to the We Can Do Better show Omar Ocampo, a researcher with the Institute for Policy Studies. Omar tells us about how publicly-owned grocery stores might be an answer to both our affordability crisis and the tragedy of food deserts.

Large corporate retailers are shunning certain communities due to lower-than-desired profit margins. The practice known as “supermarket redlining,” which leaves an estimated 19 million Americans living in food deserts and paying high prices for unhealthy options.

For the website Inequality.org Omar, has written an article “How City-Owned…