SNAP work requirements are changing. Here’s how it could affect the Philadelphia region

Federal legislation passed by lawmakers last week to raise the country’s debt limit and avoid a default came with a number of strings attached, including a change in the work requirements for people who use food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Work requirements limit the amount of time people can get food stamps, for those without dependents who fall within a certain age range. The age range is growing by five years under the new rules, but there are also more exemptions to the requirement.

Here’s a rundown of what’s changing, and what it might mean for the Philadelphia region.

It won’t affect any SNAP recipients in the Philadelphia region for at least a few more months.

In Pennsylvania, SNAP work requirements are waived statewide until Oct. 1. New Jersey also has a statewide waiver through January 2024.

This rule currently applies to so-called able-bodied adults ages 18 to 49 who have no children or other dependents. People with disabilities and pregnant people are exempt from this requirement.

To stay eligible for SNAP benefits, people belonging to this group must work at least 80 hours per month on average or participate in an approved training program for at least 20 hours per week. If they don’t, their SNAP benefits are limited to three months every three years.

“We call it a time limit rather than a work requirement,” said Louise Hayes, a supervising attorney at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia.

The new law has the same requirement, but it expands the ages by five years — for ages 18 to 54.

It would also have more exemptions. Veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and young adults transitioning out of foster care will no longer be bound by work requirements at any age. That’s in addition to the previously exempt, those with disabilities and pregnant people.

The exact number is currently unclear.

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services is still analyzing how changes under the new federal legislation will affect SNAP administration in the state, a spokesperson said.

About 33,000 SNAP participants in New Jersey are age 50 to 54, and 12,000 of them are considered “able-bodied adults without dependents” who would be subject to the work requirement, according to the state Department of Human Services. Some of those 12,000 may be exempt from the requirement because they fall under exemptions, said Eva Loayza-McBride, a department spokesperson.

In Pennsylvania, 1.88 million people were using SNAP benefits as of September 2022. The number of recipients in Philadelphia has hovered between 450,000 and 500,000 in recent years, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Across Pennsylvania, 1.5 million SNAP recipients are either children, people with disabilities, or “older adults,” according to state data. That leaves about 370,000 who could be affected, but some of them may be exempt from the work requirement under the new exemptions.

In New Jersey, about 794,000 people have been on SNAP on average each month this year.

Nationally, President Joe Biden’s administration has said the legislation would not significantly change the number of people subject to work requirements.

Yes. State governments administer SNAP benefits, and they can also waive the work requirement for areas where unemployment is high.

Pennsylvania and New Jersey both currently have statewide exemptions in place after applying for approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to do so.

This can also be done by county and municipality. In 2018, for example, 59 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties were exempt from work requirements, including Philadelphia, Delaware, and Bucks Counties. SNAP benefits have been subject to a work requirement since 1996, and in that time, every Pennsylvania governor has included Philadelphia as one of the geographic areas exempted, according to Hayes.

The departments that administer SNAP in Pennsylvania and New Jersey both said they plan to apply for new waivers depending on what the USDA will allow.

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services has routinely applied for these waivers, spokespeople for the department said, because “we believe work requirements for SNAP recipients can exacerbate poverty and hunger” and these rules “have been shown to be ineffective in addressing long-term unemployment.”

States can also give a “discretionary” exemption to individuals who don’t meet any of the other exemptions. Currently, people with a discretionary exemption can make up no more than 12% of a state’s SNAP recipients. Under the new law, the maximum would be 8%.

“These exemptions were granted primarily to individuals experiencing homelessness,” said spokespeople for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, and have typically been granted to 9% of recipients or fewer. Because all people experiencing homelessness are exempt from the work requirement under the new legislation, the department doesn’t expect to surpass the new cap on discretionary exemptions.

Work requirements “are often based on an assumption that people are not interested in working while receiving benefits, or that benefits are decreasing their motivation to seek employment,” said Ashley Putnam, director of the Economic Growth & Mobility Project at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. She added that research, including some of her own, has shown otherwise.

In discussing this particular change to the rules, supporters of expanding work requirements have pointed to the cost of social safety net programs and their goal to decrease government spending.

Opponents of work requirements for social benefits say the limitation doesn’t affect employment. The new law, they said, will have real consequences for many low-income people between the ages of 50 and 54, even with the new exemptions.

“If you’re a person ... who is losing your SNAP because of these rules, it’s not much of a comfort that a homeless person your age will be exempt,” said Hayes.

The Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger noted in a statement that the age group expansion comes at a time when food prices are high due to inflation.

Putnam said studies have shown that work requirements can increase the number of people leaving the SNAP program but do not necessarily cause more people to gain employment. Some studies have shown that those exits from SNAP are the result of administrative burden associated with showing eligibility, she added.

The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), a national organization, has been advocating for an end to all time limits on receiving SNAP assistance.

“Motivation to work is not the problem,” Putnam said. “People are hesitant to go to jobs that provide unpredictable schedules, instability, and cannot offer them wages for the cost of living.