Healthy Food Access for All Americans Act

This bill, titled the "Healthy Food Access for All Americans Act," aims to stimulate investment and provide healthy nutrition options in areas identified as food deserts. It introduces a new tax credit and a grant program under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. The legislation seeks to address the lack of access to fresh and nutritious food by incentivizing the establishment and operation of food providers in underserved communities. The bill establishes a Special Access Food Provider Credit for qualified grocery stores, offering 15 percent of the basis for new stores or 10 percent of renovation expenditures for existing ones located in food deserts. Concurrently, a grant program is created for permanent food banks, covering 15 percent of qualified construction expenses, and for temporary access merchants, such as mobile markets and farmers markets, covering 10 percent of annual operational costs for up to 10 years. Entities must be certified as "special access food providers" by the Secretary, in coordination with the Secretary of Agriculture, based on criteria including location in a food desert and adherence to Healthy Food Financing Initiative standards. A "food desert" is defined by specific criteria related to population density, distance from a grocery store (1 mile in metropolitan areas, 10 miles in non-metropolitan areas), poverty rates, and median family income. The bill includes provisions for recapturing credits or grants if providers fail to meet requirements within a five-year period. It also mandates annual updates to the Food Access Research Atlas to track food retailers and ensures proportional allocation of funds to non-metropolitan areas. These measures are designed to enhance food distribution and availability where it is most needed.