Frank McRae, a retiree who lives in Koreatown, did not hesitate when I asked what he’d say to President Trump about his claim last week that the affordability crisis is a hoax.
“I would say, ‘Mr. President, please travel with me … so that you can experience firsthand … what it means to have to search for affordable food,’” McRae said.
I met McRae at the Goldrich Multipurpose Center, one of three locations where Jewish Family Service LA offers food and other assistance to growing legions of people in need. McRae, an 81-year-old military veteran who uses a walker because of severe arthritis, had just enjoyed a complimentary lunch, which is a big help for Goldrich clients on tight budgets.
“I know more people are coming in here now, because I’m seeing people I’ve never seen,” said McRae, who’d just enjoyed a lunch of whitefish with squash and kasha.
If Trump were to take McRae up on his offer, the president would have to ride three buses to get to the Goldrich center from McRae’s apartment, where the rent just went up to $900 a month from $863, and it doesn’t even have a kitchen. McRae also takes three buses to get to what might be the cheapest cup of coffee in Los Angeles.
“At McDonald’s on Western, south of Santa Monica, senior coffee is 87 cents,” McRae said. And you get one free refill, he added.
Well, we know Trump loves McDonald’s. At 79, he’d qualify for the senior discount, and he might learn something about the economy he oversees.
I can think of two explanations as to why Trump said “just about everything is down” pricewise, and that affordability is “a Democrat hoax” and “the greatest con job.”
Either Trump truly has no idea what things cost, other than, say, the $300-million ballroom he’s having built after bulldozing the East Wing of the White House.
Or, after striking out on a fundamental campaign promise (“From the day I take the oath of office, we’ll rapidly drive prices down and make America affordable again…. You just watch”), Trump is once again creating his own reality.
Whatever the case, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that consumer prices rose 3% from September of 2024 to September of this year.
In 2025, grocery and other prices are up while consumer confidence is down, based on multiple polls in which Trump is taking a beating on the economy, and the full impact of tariffs isn’t yet known. Trump recently, and grudgingly, acknowledged that affordability might just be an issue, but blamed, of course, the Democrats for rising prices.
In my own running survey of 28 grocery items at my neighborhood Vons, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag on prices. Nineteen items are currently the same price as on President Biden’s last day in office. The total tab has decreased from $146.03 to $141.73, but the difference is due almost entirely to a big drop in the price of eggs, which experts attribute primarily to declines in avian flu.
Christina Shannon works out on a stationary bike at Jewish Family Service LA. She relies on resources from the group to fill in the gaps that Social Security doesn’t cover.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Christina Shannon, who drops by the Goldrich center regularly for a free meal and a workout in the fitness center, told me she has reluctantly cut back on one of her favorite foods because the prices have gone hog wild, in a manner of speaking.
“Instead of a pack of bacon,” Shannon said, “I go to the deli and get like four slices.”
And it’s not just groceries that snip away at her Social Security check.
“I go buy medicine, and it’s a little bit higher,” Shannon said. “And I went to the drugstore to get toothpaste and washing powder. It’s all so high.”
Christina Shannon, shown at Jewish Family Service LA, would like to move but cannot afford it.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Shannon, who worked as an IRS clerk and did filing and other tasks at Goldrich in a job funded partly by the city’s Department of Aging, uses a cane because of hip and knee problems. She said she’d like to find a new apartment because the partly subsidized unit she’s been living in for 26 years has no elevator and she’s on the second floor.
“I can’t afford to move because everything is so high, but I’m tired of climbing the stairs every day,” she said.
People have to figure out first of all how to pay the rent and stay housed, and second of all, everything else
— Eli Veitzer, president and CEO of Jewish Family Service LA,
Eli Veitzer, president and chief executive of Jewish Family Service LA, said that housing costs for people on limited or fixed incomes is a major cause of financial hardship.
“People have to figure out first of all how to pay the rent and stay housed, and second of all, everything else,” Veitzer said.
When food assistance subsidies were on hold because of the federal government shutdown, Veitzer said, his agency saw a surge of newcomers — including working people and families — at the organization’s food pantries in Van Nuys, West Hollywood and Pico-Robertson.
“In the last two weeks of October and the first two weeks of November, hundreds of new people a day were coming in,” Veitzer said.
The way the economy is built, Veitzer said, low-wage workers have been forced to rely on government programs for medical care, housing and food assistance. When those programs are cut, or can’t keep up with demand, “the difference between making it and being on the street is very thin.”
As the need grows, Veitzer said, meal providers are being forced to scale back because of government cuts. One example is the Van Nuys-based Valley InterCommunity Council, known as VIC, which provides food, transportation and social services to clients 60 and older.
Karen Kochara, a driver for the Valley InterCommunity Council, prepares to deliver meals to seniors who are homebound in 2023.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
“We were serving 1,000 meals a day to our home-bound clients,” said Leticia Perez, director of operations. That number is down to 600 after a budget cut at the nonprofit, which is partially funded by the city of L.A. in what Perez called “a trickle-down” of federal and state dollars.
I’ve been on those home deliveries with VIC volunteers and I’ve also accompanied VIC clients on their bargain-hunting missions at local supermarkets. One VIC client told me she was always happy to get her hands on a Subway coupon for a footlong sandwich, which she cut into pieces to make three meals.
At VIC’s Sherman Oaks center Monday morning, 15 people had already signed up for the day’s food pantry offerings. In the multipurpose room, where a free lunch was being prepared, Larry Fazio called out bingo numbers for early arrivals. I then followed him over to the pantry, where he helped set up boxes of apples, bananas, potatoes and other basics.
“Don’t get me started on him,” Fazio said when I asked if he knew about Trump’s claim that affordability is a hoax. “I’m being taken off of Medi-Cal.”
Fazio said he’s still got Medicare, but he had used Medi-Cal to supplement his coverage.
“We’ve always lived on a budget, and now it’s squeaky. We’re being careful. Even with the electricity in the house — the amount of heat we use,” Fazio said.
Come visit the pantry, Mr. President. You could also join the volunteers who drive meals to homebound seniors, and maybe if you cut back ever so slightly on the number of chandeliers in the new ballroom, those 400 hungry clients could get back on the food delivery list.
Or I could hook you up with Frank McRae, whose offer stands.
“Come travel with me.”
steve.lopez@latimes.com
This story originally appeared on LA Times
