As pandemic-era programs come to an end, Alabama SNAP benefits recipients will see a decrease in their monthly benefits of almost $180 per household.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, emergency allotments were established two years ago to offer a financial boost during COVID-19. The modifications were only temporary, and Alabama and the other 31 states that still received special allocations saw the program come to an end with the most recent government spending bill.
SNAP Benefits Changes Take Effect In March
Given the small amount of basic SNAP benefits and the significant recent inflation in food prices, the analysis noted that the termination of the temporary (emergency allotments) will be a significant change that will worsen food insecurity for many people and families. Without the EAs, SNAP benefits in 2023 will only amount to an average of $6.10 per person per day.
The emergency allotments permitted SNAP households to obtain an extra $95 in benefits each month, or, if greater, the difference between what they had been receiving and the maximum permitted for their household size.
According to a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Procedures, Alabama will see an average reduction of $179 per household, or about $85 per person. That is a little less than the $90 monthly cuts per person that are the national average.
Alabama had an average of 761,100 SNAP beneficiaries in 2022, living in 377,000 households. In Alabama, households with children make up more than 70% of SNAP recipients, and families with elderly or disabled members make up 38% of all households.
Read more: Social Security update: Who will receive two checks in March?
Monthly Grocery Budgets Drop By At Least $95
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning research and policy think tank, recipient households will see a monthly grocery budget reduction of at least $95. That reduces the average daily cost per person from about $9 to roughly $6.10. And the shift occurs at a time when food prices in January rose 10% over the corresponding month in the previous year.
The most recent month for which federal data were available was October, and it showed that more than 42.3 million people had used SNAP. Since the summer of 2020, participation had not previously surpassed that mark.
The Congressional Research Service estimates that the program will cost $113.68 billion in total for the coming fiscal year. As part of the emergency allotments, there were nine months of a 15% increase to the maximum benefit.
The enhanced SNAP benefits kept 4.2 million people above the poverty line in the fourth quarter of 2021, reducing overall poverty by 10% and child poverty by 14%, according to research by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank for economic and social policy based in Washington.
The study also discovered that recipients who were Black and Latino saw the greatest reduction in poverty rates as a result of the emergency program.
Since the reduction in SNAP benefits, food banks in those areas report seeing a sharp increase in demand, and relief organizations in the remaining states are now scrambling to devise plans of action.
Read more: 30 Countries that Netflix has reduced its prices; Do you live in one of them?
