SNAP benefits are higher for households with these kinds of expenses, which reduce the money they have available for food. The upcoming end of EAs also highlights the continued importance of ensuring that households participating in SNAP can claim allowable deductions for expenses such as rent, utilities, dependent care, child support payments, and medical expenses. Because this significant decrease will affect all SNAP households in the states that still are issuing EAs, it will be important for SNAP participants and local service providers, client advocate groups, retailers, and other stakeholders who communicate with SNAP participants to be aware of the timing of the reduction in benefits, and to take measures to minimize or mitigate the impact on households and on state agency operations. The timeframe for preparing for the end of EAs is short. If they experienced a recent increase in certain expenses, or they think the state doesn’t know about these expenses: housing or child care costs, child support payments, or if someone in their household who is aged 60 or older or has a disability has monthly medical expenses of $35 or more.įind each state’s website and telephone numberįind a local food bank for immediate food help.Participants can also contact their state human services agency to update their information if one of the following applies, as it may increase their regular benefit: If they have questions about their regular benefit, they can contact their state human services agency. SNAP enrollees will still receive their regular SNAP benefits after these extra benefits end. Some states have already ended these extra benefits. If SNAP Participants Have Questions About Benefit Changesĭue to a change in federal law, the temporary extra SNAP benefits that states began issuing in the spring of 2020 due to COVID-19 are ending after February 2023. The Agriculture Department (USDA) adjusted the TFP, effective in fiscal year 2022, under a congressional mandate to reevaluate it the resulting TFP better aligns SNAP benefits with the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet. That average daily benefit is about $1.35 higher per person per day this year than it would have been as a result of the recent adjustment to the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), which is the basis of SNAP benefits. Without the EAs, SNAP benefits will average only about $6.10 per person per day in 2023. The end of the temporary EAs will be a significant change that will increase food hardship for many individuals and families, given the modest amount of basic SNAP benefits and high recent inflation in food prices. The estimated reduction in poverty rates due to EAs was highest for Black and Latino people. A study estimated that EAs kept 4.2 million people above the poverty line in the last quarter of 2021, reducing poverty by 10 percent ― and child poverty by 14 percent ― in states with EAs at the time. The temporary benefits pushed back against hunger and hardship during COVID. "SNAP’s emergency allotments (EAs) will end after February 2023 issuances, resulting in a benefit cut for every SNAP household in the jurisdictions that still are paying EAs." The average person will receive about $90 a month less in SNAP benefits. Every household in those states will receive at least $95 a month less some households, who under regular SNAP rules receive low benefits because they have somewhat higher, but still modest incomes, will see reductions of $250 a month or more. This will result in a benefit cut for every SNAP household in the jurisdictions that still are paying EAs ― 32 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the U.S. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s (SNAP) emergency allotments (EAs) - temporary benefit increases that Congress enacted to address rising food insecurity and provide economic stimulus during the COVID-19 pandemic - will end after February 2023 issuances.
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