As the prices of groceries, gas and other necessities soar this summer, many Minnesotans also are navigating new requirements for accessing food assistance.
Beginning this month, more Minnesotans are being subjected to work requirements in order to receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which was previously known as food stamps. Recipients receive funds on a card each month that they can use toward groceries.
Adults who are under the age of 65 are now required to work or volunteer at least 80 hours a month in order to receive benefits. Previously, adults 55 and older were exempt from working or volunteering.
The law also eliminates work exemptions for parents who have children between the ages of 14 and 18, veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and youth leaving foster care. About 18,000 Minnesotans in an average month are expected to be impacted by the new work requirements, according to the Minnesota Department of Children Youth and Families.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Todd Ostertag, a neighbor services care center advisor at Second Harvest Heartland, a food bank. “It’s already a confusing process, and now the work rules have added another layer of frustration to the process for a lot of people.”
The work requirements are one of the restrictions imposed on SNAP and social service programs under H.R. 1, a sweeping package of legislation passed last year, which the Trump Administration dubbed the “The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act.”
Other changes to SNAP that have gone into effect in the past year are elimination of eligibility for refugees and asylum seekers, and the end of a program that taught participants how to cook and eat healthy.
While the work requirement went into effect at the first of the year, many individual recipients and the state were able to use provisions to delay its full implementation.
Food banks, food shelves, as well as counties, who determine eligibility for SNAP, say it’s too soon to tell the full impact of the work requirements. But the changes are coming at a time when they are already seeing an increase in demand for food.
“People are really struggling to afford food,” said Ann Hill, who leads the nonprofit Twin Cities Food Justice. “What we’re hearing from our food relief organization partners is they’re desperate for fresh produce, protein, and Indigenous and halal food, culturally-specific food.”
Food shelves began seeing more demand last fall, when the federal government shutdown led to SNAP disruptions. Then during Operation Metro Surge, foot traffic significantly decreased at food shelves, as many immigrants and people of color sheltered at home. Demand was high, and many food shelves had to transition to delivering groceries to families.
Now local food shelves say their foot traffic is back up again, and they are encountering more people who have never needed to come to the food shelf before.
“What is absolutely insane right now is the number of folks coming through who have never needed a service before,” said Sharon Abel, executive director of Groveland Food Shelf in Minneapolis. Abel said Groveland is encountering about 75 to 100 people a week who are first-time visitors at the food shelf.
The amount of money that recipients receive from SNAP depends on their income. The average amount a Minnesota recipient receives is a rate of about $6 a day per person. Food shelf leaders say the rising costs of groceries, gas and other cost of living expenses due to inflation is causing those dollars not to stretch as far.
“Before people could make it work with what they had, but now they’re having to make just pretty tough decisions about what to pay for and what not to pay for, and we’re lucky to be able to have food for them to cut that out of their family budget,” said Matthew Ayres, who leads Joyce Uptown Food Shelf in Minneapolis.
For county workers who determine eligibility for SNAP, it’s challenging to keep up with the new rules. Each time a recipient has any changes to their income, even if it’s a few hours of overtime pay, they must report that to the county.
“It’s an ongoing process that’s pretty labor intensive, both for the person receiving the benefit, and then the county worker staying engaged with them to make sure their records are always correct,” said Julie Ring, the executive director of the Association of Minnesota Counties.
Workers at food shelves and food banks say they are hearing about more people electing not to apply for SNAP, even though they might qualify for it, because making sure they have all the documentation and meet the requirements is overwhelming.
“There’s just a chilling effect on everybody as the program gets more complicated,” said Sophia Lenarz-Coy, who leads the food bank The Food Group.
Food shelves expect the demand to continue to increase, and for more people to lose their SNAP benefits. Work requirements are also coming to another social service program next year: Medicaid.
“I don’t foresee a time in the near future where our numbers are going to go down,” Ayres said. “I can only see them going up.”
