Boost in SNAP
First federal increase in food assistance since pandemic began will also bolster NY economy
Increase in food assistance to bolster state’s residents, economy.
Moneique Ballou has been a SNAP recipient for more than 10 years, but never has her monthly payment increased as much as it did this January. An additional $30 was deposited into her account, thanks to the COVID-19 relief bill passed at the end of 2020.
“I was so happy,” Ballou said about the moment she first saw the increase. “Where did this come from? I didn’t get a notice, I didn’t know anything about it, it just appeared.”
Ballou, 54, has lived in Arbor Hill all her life. She receives Social Security disability benefits. She also receives the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program money but this year her grandchildren are learning remotely and she often finds herself feeding them when babysitting.
“It will help me get more meat because at this point now every type of meat is very expensive,” Ballou said. “There was a time where you could get like pork or something kind of cheap, but everything is up due to the pandemic.”
Ballou will receive $30 extra every month until July, and so will every other SNAP household, minus or plus a couple dollars. This acrossthe-board 15 percent increase is the first time there has been food money help for all SNAP families since the pandemic began.
In March, the federal government passed an emergency allotment, which brought every household up to the maximum amount of money they could receive for their household tier, but because almost half of the households in the state were already at their max, the lowest income households didn’t get any extra food money until now, according to Sherry Tomasky, the director of communications for Hunger Solutions of New York.
When you add up every SNAP household’s increase in the state it will bring approximately $462 million into the state economy over the next six months, according to estimates by Hunger Solutions New York.
“Snap benefits are spent quickly and spent locally,” Tomasky said. “This is a tremendous infusion of food dollars for food retailers and farmers markets.”
During the Great Recession, a similar SNAP increase helped lessen food insecurity and helped make families feel stable enough to spend on other items beyond food. Every SNAP dollar could increase gross domestic product by about $1.50 during a weak economy, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“The program has a multiplier effect, boosting local businesses and economies,” said Susan Lintner, the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York’s community impact director.
The $462 million is not a huge amount of stimulus, said Adrian Masters, an economist at the University of Albany, given the population and size of New
York. “That being said SNAP recipients are low income individuals that spend it all right away. So in terms of bang for your buck for stimulus dollar, things like SNAP benefits are a good thing to spend money on.”
The Regional Food Bank has seen a 35 percent increase in demand for their services since the pandemic began. “We are thrilled to support our communities but certainly increasing SNAP is going to alleviate” some of that pressure on the Food Bank and the agencies its supports “that are out on the front lines,” Lintner said.
Food banks will also be helped indirectly because the stimulus package included money for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Commodities Program and for administrative services and supports, Lintner said. There will also be some additional funds for the state administrative offices that are working to enroll new SNAP recipients and answer questions, Tomasky said.
Given the tight turnaround between when the bill was passed and signed into law and when the January 2021 SNAP money was distributed, not everyone has received the 15 percent increase yet, according to multiple posts in a SNAP benefits community Facebook group.
“Anything that’s missed will be applied retroactively,” Lintner said about additional money being delayed. “But if you’re a family waiting for additional money for food, that does make it difficult.”
Hunger Solutions New York and other advocates hope that the increase will become permanent, and not end after July, as the relief measure currently stands.
“For the longest time the SNAP budget has not followed the increasing cost of food,” Tomasky said. “Keeping the 15 percent increase intact long-term really respects and acknowledges the fact that the cost of food has gone up pretty significantly during the pandemic. But even before the pandemic, this is sort of SNAP catching up to that.”
“I think the anticipation is that the economy will be getting back on its feet again by July and so it won’t be so necessary,” Masters said. “…And hoping that a lot of those SNAP recipients by then will have other sources of income.”
SNAP recipients like Ballou are not so convinced much will change between now and July.
“Why give it and then take it away?” Ballou said. “The prices are not going down so why would you do that? I hope that they don’t take it away. We really need this. I can’t see anything changing from now to July.”