As food prices have increased significantly in recent months, there’s growing concerns about the looming cutbacks in the assistance program that many in-need use to buy food.
SNAP, still called food stamps by some, is the supplemental nutrition assistance program, a federally funded program providing monthly benefits for families and those in-need for buying food.
Like many assistance programs, the SNAP benefit funding levels were increased during the pandemic.
Now they will soon return to pre-pandemic levels and for some, the cut will be fairly drastic.
“As an example, one family that contacted us was getting $258 a month in SNAP benefits. Their benefits are being cut back to pre-COVID. So, they’re going to be getting $48 a month. $48 a month, you really can’t buy a lot of food.”
Also for SNAP recipients, the monthly benefit amount will be based on household income and not household size.
Food banks and other service providers are already bracing for the expected increased demand with the SNAP benefits decrease, combined with inflation.
According to the federal Department of Agriculture, average food prices shot up nearly 11-percent in the past year.
