‘Not a Good Feeling’: How Delayed SNAP Benefits Impacted New Yorkers

While the federal regime has officially reopened local SNAP recipients had to tackle empty refrigerators and cabinets for more than a week Now work requirements imposed by the Trump administration are expected to cause further hardship A supermarket in Inwood Adi Talwar City Limits Mobility for -year-old Pinkie Grier is limited to walking just a couple of blocks around NYCHA s Red Hook Houses in Brooklyn where she lives So when her Electronic Benefit Transfer EBT benefits didn t arrive at the start of November due to the longest federal establishment shutdown in U S history her options for finding food were limited to the small radius she could walk I walked to the senior place Grier noted referring to the local senior center in her neighborhood I was too late for the seniors place because breakfast was over so basically for a couple of days here I was kind of pretty messed up function d u ac var s d createElement 'script' s type 'text javascript' s src 'https a omappapi com app js api min js' s async true s dataset user u s dataset campaign ac d getElementsByTagName 'head' appendChild s document 'u kmqsczew vunxutxmd' Grier is among the nearly million New York City residents who receive federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Effort SNAP benefits also known as food stamps which help low-income households afford groceries And while the federal executive officially reopened Thursday local SNAP recipients who depend on the benefits had to handle empty refrigerators and cabinets for more than a week uncertain about where their next meals would come from They don t understand that mentioned Diana Gatham a resident of NYCHA s Woodside Houses who uses SNAP to feed her three-person household They don t feel for us I m saying it s not right Once upon a time I used to work too I had it all But now I m on disability I have hardly nothing Following a court ruling earlier this week New York began distributing funds to local SNAP recipients on Nov and according to the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance OTDA which administers the effort in New York All New York City beneficiaries had received their full benefits as of Friday according to the New York City Department of Social Services DSS While Donald Trump has fought relentlessly to keep food off New Yorkers tables families who rely on SNAP can absolutely breathe a sigh of relief as benefits begin to arrive Gov Kathy Hochul declared on social media on Sunday That same night Grier reported she went to bed early without having eaten That s not fun That s not a good feeling at all she explained And you wake up and know you don t have no food in your house but you go in your kitchen anyway and look and know it s empty Grier revealed she usually spends her funds throughout the month And after the delay from the shutdown she decided to save on her card for next month in occurrence it happens again During the week-long delay exigency food giveaways popped up around the city Pantries saw longer lines and various hunger programs broadcasted serving twice as multiple people Contents of a food bag prepared for clients experiencing homelessness at St John s Bread Life a food pantry in Brooklyn Adi Talwar City Limits Joel Berg CEO of Hunger Free America a national nonprofit and advocacy organization commented calls to the National Hunger Hotline doubled during the first days of November Food delayed is food denied Berg noted We did our best to refer people to pantries and kitchens but that s not nearly enough Everyone should understand that this is not even a Band-Aid In Queens Liz Alvarez is the programs director of The Connected Chef a community-based organization working with food-insecure families including those who don t qualify or are unable to receive sufficient ruling body assistance She disclosed that they went from giving out boxes of food to families per month to in October and project serving boxes in November with the help of other organizations and mutual aid groups Other SNAP recipients notified City Limits that finding food during that week without funds became their -hour task They got up early to get to the lines at food pantries which had become longer and called and visited all the organizations they knew that could help On a couple of occasions we just wasted our time because the food ran out before we could get through a -year-old South Bronx resident who solicited to remain anonymous recounted City Limits in Spanish Other times they got a reduced ration so they had to continue searching Three potatoes one broccoli one onion for example commented the woman who is mom to a -year-old She was able to buy various food items on credit at her local grocery store she revealed New Yorkers might be affected by new job requirements The federal ruling body is back open and the deal passed by Congress this week funds SNAP through September OTDA commented benefits for December will be issued on time But other challenges remain advocates say Back in July lawmakers passed the Trump administration s sweeping One Big Beautiful Bill which included new work requirements for food assistance The rules mostly affect people who are considered Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents ABAWDs requiring them to work or volunteer at least hours per week to receive benefits It also expanded the age range for who is counted as an ABAWD from to to to and removed exemptions for veterans people experiencing homelessness and foster youth aged or younger according to the U S Department of Agriculture USDA memo laying out the new rules A storefront on East th Street in the Bronx Adi Talwar City Limits The Trump administration also surprised multiple states by eliminating the waiting period for the above provisions terminating waivers that had previously suspended the work requirements on Nov New York s waiver wasn t expected to end until February But advocates sued the USDA saying it arbitrarily terminated them ahead of schedule Last week a federal court in Rhode Island issued a temporary restraining order TRO blocking the Trump administration from ending the waivers early As of Friday DSS recounted City Limits New Yorkers who fail to demonstrate compliance with the work rules within the three months established by the federal law could start losing their SNAP funds in June For now the waivers are set to expire at the end of February the work requirements would start in March and households that don t comply would lose their SNAP benefits in June Neither OTDA nor DSS knows whether USDA will decide to challenge the TRO decision which could change that timeline You have from the federal ruling body a combination of incompetence and malevolence that are making all of this so much worse Berg commented And look we advocacy people getting jobs and people on SNAP want to get higher-paying jobs but this isn t the way to do it To reach the reporter behind this story contact Daniel citylimits org To reach the editor contact Jeanmarie citylimits org 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