The Trump administration recently announced new eligibility restrictions for the country’s food assistance program, which food advocates say will limit access for the needy.
Planned to go into effect on April 1, the change would make it more difficult for states to waive work requirements to qualify for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), known as CalFresh in California, in areas with high unemployment. It targets ABAWDs—“able-bodied adults without dependents”—requiring state programs to verify whether they have worked 80 hours in a given month and a minimum of 20 hours in a week.
The ABAWD work requirement was signed into law in 1996, with Congress noting at the time that it “reforms welfare to make it more consistent with fundamental American values—by rewarding work and selfreliance [sic], encouraging personal responsibility, and restoring a sense of hope in the future.”
The rule change comes as California has labored to increase enrollment in CalFresh. Fewer than half of all Santa Barbara County residents eligible for CalFresh were enrolled in the program in 2014. The county’s participation rate of 42 percent was one of the lowest rates in the state at the time. Since then the state has pulled itself upward, as advocacy groups like the Food Bank of Santa Barbara County have increased outreach and dispatched staff to sign more people up.
But Maria Gardner, a deputy director of the county’s Department of Social Services in the Economic Assistance & Employment Services Branch, said not everyone who needs the service is signed up. Some people may not be working because of a disability but don’t have the proper documentation to register a formal disability. That means no CalFresh dollars for them under the new rule. Aggravating the problem is that many may not have health care either.
“We find there are a lot of people who have undiagnosed health problems, but they still fall into that bucket because they don’t have a doctor’s note,” Gardner said.
Roughly 38,000 people receive CalFresh assistance each month in Santa Barbara County, although the number can vary. The county estimates that about 1,700 people could be affected by the rule change. Recipients of the program get about $150 a month on an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Card, similar to a debit card. That money can be used to buy meals, like rice and chicken, or healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables. The funds aren’t for non-essentials like alcohol.
Gardner said that many people under the ABAWD designation work in the retail or service industry. They could be scheduled for 20 hours one day, then have a shift slashed at the last moment. And though she’s preparing for the rule to come into effect, she noted the special steps the Trump administration had to take to circumvent Congress.
“Anything can happen, that’s definitely true,” she said. “This was not a popular change.”
National estimates suggest that 688,000 SNAP recipients could be left out. The Office of the Federal Register reports the savings to the program will be $5.48 billion over the next five years.
The new rule will also add administrative requirements to state programs, forcing these operators to invest more money into staff and the verification process. The financial and personnel strain, according to the register, will be minimal.
Food security advocates disagree. Jared Call, a managing policy advocate with California Food Policy Advocates, says the change will hamper state agencies and nonprofits and hurt their chances of adding people in need, leaving many poor or homeless people hungry.
“It’s a population we don’t know a whole lot about because this is one of their only connections to government services, and when they get cut off, we don’t really know what happens to them,” he said.
A lack of data makes it hard to say how many people in California will be left out of the program. Call said that currently, just six counties in the state require people to verify whether they work or not. With the rule change, 40 of California’s 58 counties would be forced to verify whether ABAWD recipients are working or not.
Similar cuts were rebuffed in the 2018 Farm Bill, pushing the Trump administration to alter it’s tactics from legislative to administrative. When the new rule was announced, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a press release, “We need everyone who can work, to work.”
But the rule still has to be implemented, and Call said that these kinds of changes could be strangled by lawsuits.
Julia Lara, director of programs for the Food Bank of Santa Barbara County, said the new rule will require state programs to ask for information that people in need of the program don’t always have. That includes citizenship or legal, permanent residence; an ID; and proof of address.
But Lara is still trying to help people sign up.
“We want to make sure people know none of these changes are effective immediately,” Lara said.
Reach Staff Writer William D’Urso at wdurso@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 26, 2019 – Jan 2, 2020.