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- Come March, millions of Americans will see their SNAP benefits drop drastically, some by over $200.
- A pandemic-era SNAP expansion is winding down in March, after funding was cut in the omnibus.
- That'll mean the average SNAP participant loses $82 a month in benefits.
Millions of Americans are staring down a potential "hunger cliff" come March — and many may not be aware that they're about to lose hundreds from their grocery budget.
That's because yet another pandemic-era benefit is winding down, and it's likely to leave older adults with fixed incomes scrambling amidst high food prices. As HuffPost first reported, 16 million households will see their benefits drop by $82 a person, what the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) estimates is the average amount that every SNAP participant will lose a month.
Beginning in March 2020, SNAP was expanded to allow households to receive the maximum benefit, instead of income testing and allocating aid based on how much they earned. That meant that a household of one — generally an older adult — went from getting $23 a month to $281, according to Gina Plata-Nino, deputy director for SNAP at FRAC. At the same time, the lowest earners, who are normally eligible for the most assistance, received an additional $95 on top of the benefit.
But the omnibus bill passed in December stipulated that those emergency allotments will come to an end in March, marking yet another example of federal social policy abruptly winding down. That means the recipients getting $281 will fall back to $23 — a $258 decrease.
Instead, the enhanced SNAP benefits will go the way of enhanced unemployment benefits, free school lunches, and the child tax credit; all provided a safety net and helped keep hunger at bay for many, but there is little legislative appetite to renew them.
The following map shows not only which states are facing an abrupt cutoff of SNAP benefits soon but just how many households will be affected. The states in gray in the following map already have had the emergency allotment expire.
As seen in the map, around 30 states and Washington, DC, would be affected by the abrupt cutoff of SNAP benefits. Based on figures from FRAC, 393,341 households in Alabama for instance would receive emergency allotments of SNAP in February 2023. That's about 200 households per 1,000 households in the state. DC and New Mexico may feel the largest impact from this cutoff based on estimates per 1,000 households.
Now, Plata-Nino said, states are scrambling to get the word out to residents that their benefits are being dramatically reduced.
"The last thing you want is grandma Sue showing up to the grocery store all of a sudden like, 'Where's my money? This is what I had budgeted,'" she said. "That's the hunger cliff that we're facing — that people had this budget, things haven't gotten better, and now you're going to a grocery store where things are more expensive."
And those grocery shoppers are also coming up against higher prices, especially on essentials like milk, eggs, and orange juice. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price of a gallon of whole milk has increased from $3.74 in December 2021 to $4.21 in December 2022. Prices for a dozen large Grade A eggs saw a massive uptick from November to December — $3.59 to $4.25, and hugely up from the year before, when they were $1.79.
Some states are stepping in to try and fill the gap left by the end of beefed-up SNAP benefits: New Jersey increased the minimum benefit that residents can receive, and Massachusetts is moving to try and keep payments higher for three months, albeit at 40% of what recipients get now.
But the loss of benefits wholesale will have a real human toll – and a ripple effect on local economies.
"One of the things that we forget is that for every dollar that people spend on SNAP, it stays in the local economy — and it translates to about a dollar 70 to a dollar 80," in increased economic activity, Plata-Nino said.
Those losing their emergency allotments will still see the same high prices and rents, but they'll have less money.
"You're going to see, as the months go along, more families being hungry, more people visiting food banks, and just seeing the terrible effects that this had on all of these people," Plata-Nino said.
Are you worried about your SNAP benefits shrinking? Are you adjusting your budget or making other changes? Contact these reporters at jkaplan@insider.com and mhoff@insider.com.