“People who might have previously been able to turn to SNAP as the first line of defense against hunger, may not be able to turn to it now, whether that’s because they’re not able to find a volunteer placement, or they’re between jobs or they fell through the cracks of of additional bureaucracy through really no fault of their own,” said Joree Novotny, the executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks.
Nearly half of all patrons of Ohio’s network of food banks, which includes Second Harvest Food Bank in Springfield, are also SNAP recipients, Novotny said.
The federal budget, which included $186 billion in reductions to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program over the next 10 years through changes to its framework, was signed by President Donald Trump this month.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that 1 in 8 SNAP recipients nationwide will be at risk of seeing their benefits either eliminated or reduced due to expanded work requirements — this could impact nearly 97,000 Ohioans, the left-leaning policy think tank estimates.
“With that program facing significant cuts as well as specific requirements being imposed on those benefits, it will force people to rely on us more,” said Jennifer Brunner, development director at Second Harvest Food Bank. “And, for some, it may necessitate that they use our services for the first time.”
Ohio’s budget passed the same week as the federal budget also makes changes to the food stamp program, including work requirements similar to the federal changes.
If you currently receive SNAP benefits, they won’t likely change immediately. New work requirements and other changes could go into effect in the coming months, but states will need time to update their systems and practices. Other changes will be phased in over the next few years.
Work requirements expansion
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services estimates that 23,786 Clark County residents received SNAP benefits in June, representing 17.6% of the county’s overall population.
A total of 4,261 recipients were reported in Champaign County that same month, according to a state database.
SNAP eligibility is determined by income levels and other factors.
| Assistance group size | 130% of federal poverty line standard | SNAP allotment |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,632 | $292 |
| 2 | $2,215 | $536 |
| 3 | $2,798 | $768 |
| 4 | $3,380 | $975 |
| 5 | $3,963 | $1,158 |
| 6 | $4,546 | $1,390 |
Source: United States Department of Agriculture
Although changes to the SNAP program will take effect in phases over the next several years, no specific timeframe is mentioned in the federal budget for the expansion of work requirements.
But the new budget extends SNAP work requirements to more Americans than ever before.
Most “able-bodied” adults, as described in federal law, will need to work or volunteer at least 20 hours per week or participate in training programs to keep their benefits.
For decades, adults had to work until age 54 to qualify for SNAP unless they were a parent with dependents, but the working age to stay in the program has instead been raised to 64. Only parents with children younger than 14 are exempt from the requirement.
Hunger in Southwest Ohio
Novotny said the cost of food and housing remains high, and many households served by both SNAP and their local food pantries are reporting it’s increasingly difficult to stretch their SNAP allotments as is.
According to nonprofit Feeding America, Clark County in 2023 had a food insecurity rate of 16.6%, representing more than 22,000 people.
Food insecurity is the state of lacking consistent access to nutritious food due to budget constraints and other resources.
Local food bank leaders report that need in the region persists.
Novotny said food banks are expecting an uptick in need if people lose their benefits, but hungry families will be coming to their local pantries at a time where food banks are facing federal budget cuts themselves.
Food banks also received a 23% cut to their state-funded food sourcing in Ohio’s recent passage of its biennial budget.
Simply, there will be less food on shelves, Novotny said.
“They’re likely to find themselves turning to us instead for help. And we’re concerned because we know that we can’t make up for these cuts and changes to SNAP on our own,” Novotny said.
‘Falling through the cracks’
The high cost of living has area families in a bind, said Brittany Baker, a single mother of four living in the Dayton area.
Baker receives a SNAP allotment of a little more than $700 monthly that she said she carefully uses to feed her children.
“We’re not eating steak, we’re not eating crab legs,” she said. “I haven’t had a steak in so long. I’m cooking wholehearted family meals to feed my children.”
She said that although she’s employed as a preschool teacher and would not be impacted by work requirements immediately, she said circumstances for any family can change and put their eligibility at risk.
“What about single mothers who don’t have child care options?” she said. “What happens if my child gets sick, I get sick? Do we not care about working moms and hungry kids?”
Fairborn resident Georgie Elson uses SNAP and other government-funded programs like Medicaid — two resources that they say support them as they continue care for multiple health conditions that impact their ability to work.
Elson had a spinal fluid leak in 2022 that greatly limited their mobility and made sitting up for longer than 30 minutes at a time impossible.
Their eligibility and the eligibility of others who qualify for disability benefits will not be impacted, they said, but they fear expanded work requirements could negatively impact the parent caregivers of children with developmental and other disabilities.
SNAP in 2023 provided food assistance to nearly 4 million households each month that included individuals under age 60 who received disability benefits, U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows. This is nearly one in five SNAP households.
“These changes will see more people falling through the cracks,” Elson said.
$318M state impact
Another change coming to SNAP will be how it is funded.
Historically, federal dollars have covered all SNAP benefit costs, with states pitching in 50% of funding for costs related to the administration of the program.
Federal lawmakers approved an increase in the state’s cost responsibility. States will now have to fund 50% of administrative costs and between 5-15% of benefit payments within their borders.
A state’s specific benefit contribution percentage is determined by its payment error rate. Payment errors occur from the overpayment or underpayment of SNAP allotments to recipients and often sprout from mistakes in paperwork, Novotny said.
Ohio’s payment error rate in the 2024 fiscal year was 9.01%.
The Center for Community Solutions, based in Cleveland, estimates that Ohio would have to pay for 10% of SNAP benefits at a cost to the state of at least $318 million annually.
SNAP eligibility, fraud
Federal lawmakers approved changes to who residing in the U.S. can access SNAP benefits, too.
Refugees and asylees who have not obtained lawful permanent resident status will no longer be able to access SNAP, according to the Urban Institute.
Although immigrants who are in the United States under documented statuses can access public benefits, undocumented immigrants have never been eligible for SNAP.
Federal lawmakers said their overhaul of the federal food assistance program is happening to reduce government waste and fraud.
Novotny said that although SNAP is a program with intensive eligibility requirements and a rigorous application process, SNAP fraud still exists, but the most common example of it is theft through skimming.
In these schemes, fake card-swiper devices allow thieves to capture card and PIN numbers without the cardholder knowing. Once information is stolen, fraudsters use the funds to make large purchases, often in other states, to drain a person’s account.
Novotny said she and other food access advocates would have preferred to see funding funneled toward updating EBT cards, which are used to make purchases on food through SNAP, to include security measures like microchips.
“We really count on SNAP being accessible and having integrity because we need people to be able to rely on it. We prefer people to be able to shop at their local grocery stores and contribute to their local economies,” said Novotny. “We’re not supposed to be their frontlines, we’re a gap service.”
