MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Milwaukee Common Council is calling on the city’s health department and Department of City Development to help solve Milwaukee's food desert crisis.

This comes after two grocery stores on the city’s north side have closed their doors this year. Last year, five Pick n’ Save stores shut down. Ald. Milele Coggs says tens of thousands of people in the city are being affected by these food deserts.

“Everybody deserves the right to access to fresh food, as well as pharmacy,” said Coggs. “My district has lost groceries, and we fought to get groceries.”

This year’s closure of Sentry Foods on Silver Spring and Aldi on Sherman and Custer have forced some of the city’s elderly population to travel further.

“It’s closer to their home, and then they gotta go out so far to go to another store,” said shopper Laura Glenn.

That’s why Coggs is introducing new legislation to find a way to bring new grocery stores and keep the city’s current ones open.

“It was a no-brainer,” said Coggs.

Under the new legislation, staff members in the Department of City Development and the Milwaukee Health Department would compile data about how other states retain grocery stores and pharmacies and bring those practices to Milwaukee.

“They’re the ones who deal with real estate issues, they’re the ones who deal with attracting jobs, attracting companies and that kind of thing, so they’re a subject matter expert,” said Coggs.

Residents say they want to be able to shop in their own communities.

“I want the community to thrive. I want the stores to stay open. I don’t want to have to go 10, 20 miles somewhere else when I can support my own neighborhood,” said Glenn.

Coggs says this is just one piece of legislation to solve a large problem. In the coming weeks, other council members will be introducing more legislation to target the city’s food desert crisis.