![]() ![]() With all the changes to SNAP in recent months, including an end to the pandemic emergency allotments for SNAP, food advocates are worried that people are falling through the cracks. Really, all it comes down to is more paperwork.” “It doesn't really improve anybody's existence. “Most of the research I have seen shows that work requirements do not really help in terms of helping people get jobs,” said Jonathan Coppess, director of the Gardner Agriculture Policy Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Recent research on work requirements indicates that they lead to lower enrollment in SNAP, while having no effect on employment. Since last July, when the number of hours increased, there’s been a nearly 6% drop in enrollment for SNAP among able-bodied adults without dependents, according to the latest data from the Kansas Department of Children and Families. “Kansas lawmakers have really disintegrated the safety net for a whole lot of people because they are putting more hoops that folks would need to jump through to receive SNAP,” said Haley Kottler, a campaign director for Kansas Appleseed, an advocacy organization that works on food access issues. Those opposed to work requirements say that they just further discourage people from even applying for help. Kansas ranks 49th in access to SNAP benefits, according to USDA data from 2021. “In order to buy food you need to have a job, that's what this is all about,” said Kansas Sen. In April, Kansas Republicans emphasized that the changes only applied to able-bodied adults without dependents, as they voted to override Democratic Gov. ![]() ![]() “And I think most Americans overwhelmingly agree with that.” “If you are able-bodied and you don't have small children, you should be either working or trying to get a job or getting the training you need to get a job,” said House Rep. Many of the recipients, especially those who are disabled, find drive-through pantries such as this one easier to access.īoth Kansas and federal Republican lawmakers say it’s about getting people working. Harvest Public Media Volunteers load food into cars at the Franklin Center's food pantry on Wednesday afternoons. ![]() For participants who fail to work the required hours, they have to complete an employment and training program. Last year, state lawmakers also raised the number of hours people have to work, from 20 to 30 a week. It was a move that the state of Kansas had made a few months earlier, raising the age limit by 10 years to 59. Such recipients must prove that they are working, volunteering or in job training programs within three months or they lose their benefits. “Anytime we're putting extra requirements in order for people to get the help that they need,” he said, “that's not necessarily going to be a good thing for us.”Īs part of the debt ceiling agreement, Congress recently raised the work requirement age limit to 55 for able-bodied adults without dependents in order to qualify for SNAP. Kurt Rietema, president of the Franklin Center in Kansas City, Kansas, said people often come to the pantry when SNAP restrictions make them ineligible or just become too complicated to deal with. It’s a much different story for those seeking help through the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. When cars drive up to the Franklin Center food pantry’s tents, volunteers load fresh food into open trunks - no explanation needed. ![]()
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