By JJ McCorvey and Rob Wile -
NBC News
When the emergency pandemic aid that prompted food stamp assistance is cut next week, millions of low-income people will face tighter balances in the accounts they use to pay for purchases, causing food banks face increased demand.
As of March 1, the emergency grant for individuals and families enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will end in 32 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.
According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning policy and research group, beneficiary households will see their monthly food allowances reduced by at least $95.
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That is, in daily terms,
the average of 9 dollars per person will be reduced to about 6.10 dollars.
This change comes when food prices in January increased by 10% compared to the same month last year.
Charles Jones, a 63-year-old US Army veteran from Rockford, Illinois, was receiving $281 in increased monthly SNAP assistance under the temporary program.
By the end of next week, his income will drop to $23, the minimum monthly amount.
“When they cut this extra SNAP benefit, I'm going to be in big trouble,” he said.
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Jones explained that pandemic-era SNAP payments
got him out of a homeless shelter and allowed him to move into a studio apartment
with a monthly rent of $650 earlier this month.
He's worried that when his aid is reduced because he's also receiving Social Security disability payments, rent and utility bills will eat up all his income, jeopardizing his new chance at stability.
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“It has helped me a lot,” said Jones, who also relies on boxed grocery deliveries but explained that many times he is unable to consume much of the contents due to heart disease.
“You know how the government is.
They want to keep the rich rich and the poor poor.”
Stacy Dean, deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Agriculture, which administers the SNAP program, acknowledged that the emergency aid had been "powerful" for recipients.
“The difference it has made in mitigating rising hunger and tackling economic hardship and poverty can never be stressed enough,” Dean said.
Although the end of the program “will be very difficult,” the help it provided “was always designed to be temporary,” he added.
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More than 42.3 million people participated in SNAP as of October, the latest period for which federal data is available.
The turnout figure had not exceeded that level since the summer of 2020.
The total cost of the program for fiscal year 2021 was $113.68 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service.
That included nine months of a 15% increase to the maximum benefit as part of the emergency allowances.
Research by the Urban Institute, a
Washington-based nonpartisan economic and social policy think tank, found that enhanced SNAP benefits kept 4.2 million people above the poverty line in the last quarter of 2021
,
reducing general poverty by 10% and child poverty by 14%.
According to the study, the measures helped reduce rates especially among black and Latino beneficiaries.
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Illinois is one of 32 states that had allowed the enhanced benefits to run through the March 1 federal deadline.
But many others, including Florida, Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi, had already chosen to end the emergency allocation, in some cases as early as 2021.
Food banks in those areas say they've seen much higher demand since SNAP benefits were cut, and aid organizations in the remaining states are now focused on preparing for what's to come.
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“We saw what happened in the other states, where they ended so early,” said Laura Lester, executive director of the Feeding Alabama food bank network, which serves a state where extra aid cuts off next week.
In Georgia, whose enhanced benefits ended last May, visits had increased 34% through December, the Atlanta Community Food Bank told NBC News.
For its part, Wholesome Wave Georgia, a nonprofit organization that runs a program that matches SNAP dollars spent on local products, said the total number of families it has served since the emergency allotment expired has already been close to their typical annual numbers, though the group did not attribute the recent demand solely to SNAP changes.
“We are currently preparing for that,” Lester said.
In part to offset the expiration of emergency benefits, the Central Alabama Community Food Bank increased its annual budget to $10 million, up from $8.9 million last year.
The organization said it spent more than $5 million last year buying food to donate, up from $3.2 million in 2021.
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Operations officials at the North Alabama Food Bank said they recently ordered twice the amount of food they normally buy this time of year.
The food bank also said they are now accepting donations that typically require too many staff to pack and deliver, such as a large container of potatoes.
It is also planning a large mobile pantry for the first week of April, to coincide with the last enhanced benefit payment to residents.
In October, the USDA issued a 12.5% cost-of-living adjustment to the maximum SNAP benefit, but the full impact on recipients' finances in a period of high inflation remains unclear.
Another adjustment is expected in the fall.
In 2021, USDA also conducted a complete reassessment of Americans' dietary needs and food costs, and increased maximum SNAP benefits by 21%.
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Still, some advocates and economists warn that the finances of many low-income Americans are in perilous straits even as the country is already moving out of the pandemic.
In fact, the USDA estimate for the cost of a “low-cost” monthly meal plan for a family of four with school-age children is up about 50 percent since before the pandemic—from about $654 in January 2020 to $978 in January 2023.
“SNAP is our most effective tool in fighting hunger,” said Dottie Rosenbaum, a senior researcher studying the program at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“Now that this temporary boost is coming to an end in every state, families who are already struggling to pay the rising cost of groceries and other expenses are going to feel a big hit.”
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In a recent Bankrate survey, 39% of American adults reported having less savings than last year, and the 10% who had no emergency savings last year still don't have them this year.
As financial buffers ease, SNAP enhancements have provided a crucial, if partial, cushion for many Americans, said Mark Hamrick, an economic analyst at Bankrate.
Cutting them now “is removing a component of the social safety net that will leave some people facing food insecurity,” he said.
"The expiration or unavailability of this benefit really couldn't happen at a less opportune time."
