States struggle to help people cope with lower SNAP benefits

“People are scared. They’re anxious. This is a devastating change. We want to make sure nobody is caught off guard in March.” — KARLA MARACCINI, DIRECTOR OF THE FOOD AND ENERGY ASSISTANCE DIVISION OF THE COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES

The white words on a red background are plain. “Important notice: SNAP emergency allotments ending after February.”

If there’s any doubt, the Colorado Department of Human Services SNAP webpage adds, “All Coloradans who receive SNAP benefits are going to see a reduction in their monthly benefit amount after February.”

In every state, participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, face the loss of pandemic-related benefits in March, if they haven’t already lost them. States, community groups and food banks are scrambling to help families cope and gear up for an expected wave of food hardship.

“People are scared. They’re anxious. This is a devastating change,” Karla Maraccini, director of the Food and Energy Assistance Division of the Colorado Department of Human Services, told Stateline. “We want to make sure nobody is caught off guard in March.”

Colorado has a new, tollfree SNAP phone line and its SNAP website includes tips for the transition and a Food Finder link to locate the closest food pantry.

The average SNAP participant in states that still had emergency allotments as of February will receive $90 less a month in benefits, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a leftleaning think tank.

“We’re saying these families face a hunger cliff — more hardship and more food insecurity. People don’t have a cushion,” Ellen Vollinger, SNAP director for the Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger advocacy group, told Stateline.

In March 2020, as COVID-19 swept the nation and the economy shut down, Congress gave states the authority to ease application and eligibility requirements for SNAP and to hike benefits with temporary emergency allotments.

The allotments were expected to last for the duration of the federal public health emergency in states that also had declared a public health emergency. But Congress in December passed a bipartisan federal spending package that ended SNAP allotments as of February 2023.

By the end of last year, 17 states had dropped state public health emergency status, meaning SNAP recipients in those states no longer received extra benefits.

The end of the federal public health emergency, recently set for May 11, will trigger other changes in SNAP that lower some benefits. Plus, Republicans in Congress are eyeing SNAP for potential cuts in the debt limit debate. The federal government pays for all SNAP benefits.

The spending package that ended the allotments early also established a permanent Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer for Children food service program. Families eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches will receive a monthly $40 grocery benefit per child when school is out starting in 2024.

The Summer EBT program is “the most significant new nationwide nutrition program in the last 50 years,” according to Vince Hall, chief government relations officer at Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic anti-hunger network. But, he said, “as critical as it is, it is not a replacement for solving the nutritional needs of the whole family.”

More than 41 million people purchased food with SNAP benefits last year, up from about 36 million in 2019, and the emergency allotments represented a huge inflow of federal funds to states.

In recent months, nearly $3 billion a month in additional benefits went to the states where the allotments were still in effect, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“I’m not aware of any state trying to replace the emergency allotments,” said Ed Bolen, director of SNAP State Strategies at the center.

The end of the allotments comes as state legislatures are in session and legislators are writing budgets for the next fiscal year, and a few states are taking steps to lessen the impact of lower benefits. But so far, New Jersey is the only state this year to enact SNAP legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The Garden State has twice raised the monthly minimum SNAP benefit — to $50 last year and to $95 this year. In most states, the regular monthly minimum SNAP benefit is $23 — and that’s after increases in 2021 and 2022.