Millions in New York struggle to afford food, housing

New York is one of the wealthiest cities in the world with more than 349,000 millionaires in its ranks. But it is also home to low-income families who battle each day to pay for basic necessities such as housing, food and visits to the doctor.

At least a quarter of the city's residents are living in poverty, a record number not seen since 2022, the Poverty Tracker report by Columbia University and Robin Hood, an antipoverty charity, found. Out of more than 2 million New Yorkers who live in poverty, 1.6 million are adults and 420,000 are children.

Elisa, 35, who declined to give her surname, is a mother of six children. She is unemployed, barely survives on public assistance and lives in a shelter in Brownsville. She is fed up with the effects of inflation.