More than 1.5 million in NYC facing hunger, shortages with March 1 end of pandemic-era SNAP benefits

Around 1.7 million low-income New Yorkers are facing an abrupt end to a pandemic program that helped put food on the table with Wedensday’s expiration of the emergency pandemic-era SNAP allocation.

Advocates warn it will have a devastating impact in NYC and will lead to a rise in food insecurity.

With inflation up, grocery prices high, the expiration of other pandemic-era government programs like the Child Tax credit and rents hitting an all-time high, advocates say the end of the SNAP supplement will pull the rug out from under cash-strapped New Yorkers.

“The public health emergency may have ended officially, but the financial emergency and the financial hardship following the last few years of pandemic is still very, very real and very, very present in folks’ lives.,” said Zac Hall, vice president of Anti-Poverty Programs at Food Bank NYC. “We don’t think that now is the time to cut SNAP benefits at all.”

The emergency allotments are a temporary benefit Congress put into place to help address food insecurity and economic stability during the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting in March 2020, Congress temporarily bumped SNAP benefits up to the maximum amounts, giving households more funds than they normally would have received. Recipients received at least $95 extra in funds every month.

After three years, those benefits will be slashed to the original amounts. Some seniors and low income families will lose up to $250 a month. The same will happen in 32 other states.

“It’s such a great program, and it’s a little bit devastating that it’s been reduced tomorrow,” Jilly Stephens, CEO of City Harvest, said.

All recipients will revert back to the amounts they received before the pandemic.

Some households will see their monthly funds cut as much as $250 a month.

“It’s not enough,” Tania Collazo, an associate director at JASA, a nonprofit offering services, including food and meal deliveries for older adults. “It’s not enough money to take care of their medical needs and their health needs, which includes their food. It’s not enough and it’s really a shame. It’s scary. … We’re strategizing now, seeing what we can do.”

“With this incredible drop off in benefits that will hit people tomorrow, we expect to see a surge in the number of people coming to food pantries and the frequency with which they visit them,” Stephens said. “… As hard as we work – and we’re very proud of the work we do in New York City – what the government can do through a program like SNAP is so much more impactful.”

Visits to food pantries and soup kitchens remain high – up 69% in 2022 compared to 2019 — and up 14% since about a year ago, according to City Harvest, a nonprofit.

The pandemic boost was a lifeline for struggling New Yorkers. It kept more than 4 million New Yorkers out of poverty nationwide, according to a study from the Urban Institute. In New York, it gave needy recipients groceries, access to healthy foods and meat.

“We’re here as a backstop against hunger, but we are not a replacement for SNAP and we are just not equipped with our resources to be able to manage that level of losses,” Zac Hall, Vice President, Anti-Poverty Programs at Food Bank NYC, said.

“Folks are going to make some hard decisions,” Hall added. “Seniors may be making some choices around which medicines to purchase and take versus food. … Some kids are going to go to school hungry. Families are going to make decisions around paying rent or heat bills, taking on new debt, and eating up their savings.”