When a Nearby Pantry Is Not a Usable Opportunity: Scheduled Round-Trip Food Access from Affordable Housing in Chester County, Pennsylvania
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Under baseline assumptions, 12 of 18 affordable-housing developments in western Chester County, Pennsylvania, had no modeled two-hour evening/weekend pantry opportunity by walking or scheduled transit during November 2–29, 2026 (5–18 across tested assumptions), and none had more than one. All three Parkesburg developments remained without a date across the seven configurations tested. With two-hour outings and all-day availability, 17 developments had at least seven usable dates under either eligibility rule; only Parkesedge had none. This public-data study combined 26 housing address groups, pantry calendars, walking distances and exact scheduled bus departures, including a 30-minute pickup and return home. Outcomes distinguished usable dates from alternative-provider opportunities under assumed eligibility and an illustrative same-school-district rule. With three hours, the number of developments without an evening/weekend opportunity fell to four under assumed eligibility but remained 12 under district filtering. A separate directory-version comparison was driven by an ambiguous Salvation Army listing: interpreting its 2024 general hours as distribution hours added eight dates at 14 developments under district filtering in the two-hour all-day comparison. Removing that listing from both versions eliminated every 2024/current contrast in dates and alternatives. The results identify specific needs for service-area clarification, accurate distribution-hour descriptions and complete return-trip information. These are in-person pickup opportunities; a supplementary review identified delivery alternatives but could not establish household coverage. Results do not measure food acquisition or historical service cuts.
Source: Preprints.org
Author: Arjun Neel Mohanan
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225312736