States facing food-stamp rule changes
CHICAGO — States are scrambling to blunt the effect of new food stamp rules, with roughly 700,000 people at risk of losing benefits unless they meet certain work, training or school requirements.
Several states have filed a lawsuit, expanded publicly funded job training, developed pilot programs and doubled down on efforts to reach vulnerable communities, including the homeless, rural residents and members of minority groups.
Currently, work-eligible, able-bodied adults without dependents under 50 can receive monthly benefits if they meet a 20-hour weekly work, job-training or school requirement. Those who don’t are limited to three months of food stamps over three years.
However, states with high unemployment or few jobs have been able to waive time limits. Every state except Delaware has sought a waiver at some point, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The new rules, which take affect April 1, make it harder to get waivers. They’re the first of three changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which feeds 36 million people nationwide.
The Trump administration has touted the change as a way to get people working and save $5.5 billion over five years. Able-bodied adults without dependents are 7% of program recipients.
But states fighting the change say that argument is misguided.
Social service agencies say they won’t be able to fill the gap, making increased homelessness and more hospital visits among the biggest concerns. Experts say they’ve already seen troubling signs in some states.
“This is a cascading effect,” said Robert Campbell, managing director at Feeding America, a network of hundreds of food banks nationwide. “It will increase demands on the emergency food system, food banks and pantries.”
“Not everyone is in a position to get a job tomorrow, and taking away access to food is only going to make that more difficult,” said Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Secretary Teresa Miller. “We’re going to have more hungry people in the state.”
Pennsylvania — where as many as 100,000 people could be affected — is working with social services groups to create 30 job-training programs for food-program recipients.
However, experts say work opportunities are limited.
More than half of program recipients have a high school diploma, but about one-quarter have less, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Available jobs are more likely to have low pay, shifting schedules that might not offer enough qualifying hours, and few benefits such as paid sick leave.
“Work requirements really don’t really do much to affect the rate at which people are working,” said Elaine Waxman at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization. “If people can work and consistently, they pretty much are.”
Some states are focusing on rural areas, which have less access to transportation and services.
Hawaii, for instance, wants to develop a pilot program to help 400 Molokai residents keep benefits. The rural island once had a waiver because of high unemployment, but the new rules assign Molokai to the same job market as nearby, more prosperous Maui, even though a 30-minute plane ride is the only way to travel between the islands.
The program would use education, training and volunteering to fulfill the work requirement. It’s modeled after similar programs used in remote Alaska, which is seeking waivers for less-populated areas. Roughly 5,000 people in Alaska could lose benefits.
Attorneys general in nearly 20 states and Washington, D.C., have sued to block the rules. They argue the changes will force people to divert their limited funds, leading to homelessness and health problems.
People with food insecurity spend 45% more on medical care annually than those who are food secure, according to a 2018 report by the nonprofit Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.