The benefits of publicly owned grocery stores

Cuts to federal food assistance and high grocery prices have heightened concerns about hunger in Massachusetts. Some Boston city councilors want to explore a possible solution: publicly owned grocery stores.

They say it would make it easier for people with low incomes to access affordable, healthy food. A hearing on the proposal is scheduled for later this month.

Tufts Professor Julian Agyeman tells WBUR's All Things Considered that these stores could reimagine food access as a public service.