Experts: Thousands of Long Islanders could lose access to SNAP benefits as work rules set to begin

Thousands of Long Islanders could potentially lose access to a critical food assistance program as new federal work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program begin this weekend — a move that one local food bank official equated to "watching a car crash happen in real time."

Starting March 1, able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 64 without dependents under the age of 14 will be required to work, volunteer or participate in job training for at least 80 hours a month to receive SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps.

The work requirements previously applied to adults ages 18 through 54 who are physically and mentally able to work and who didn’t have dependents under age 18.

Roughly 42 million people — or 1 in 8 Americans — receive SNAP benefits, according to federal data. The majority are in households with incomes below the poverty line of $33,000 for a family of four.

Food insecurity to grow

Recipients who do not meet new federal work requirements, which went into place in July as part of President Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, will be limited to three months of SNAP benefits in a three-year period, meaning that the immediate impact of the change will likely not be felt until June.

"Metaphorically, we are watching a car crash happen in real time," said Greg May, director of government and community relations for Island Harvest Food Bank in Melville, which expects a major uptick in clients once the SNAP rules go into full effect. "Food insecurity on Long Island has been increasing every year. And now, it's going to go up again."

On Long Island, more than 110,000 households and 168,000 individuals — about 70% of whom live in Suffolk County — receive SNAP benefits, according to state figures.

The State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, which oversees SNAP, could not provide a projected number of Long Islanders expected to lose their SNAP benefits once the work requirements go into effect.

But statewide, OTDA anticipates that about 17% of 1.73 million households receiving SNAP benefits will lose access to the program. That amounts to about 300,000 households statewide that rely on the program to put food on the table, officials said. In total, nearly 3 million individual New Yorkers receive SNAP benefits, OTDA data sows.

The USDA, which administers SNAP federally, declined to comment.

Children, elderly most affected

Vanessa Baird-Streeter, president and chief executive of the Health & Welfare Council of Long Island, an umbrella nonprofit for about 200 human service groups across the region, hosted a webinar Friday to discuss the new work requirements.

"We know that SNAP assistance for our community members is so important," Baird-Streeter said during the event. "At the end of the day, you need a basic source of food. And so being able to have access to a benefit that's going to allow you and your family to have access to food, allows you to do anything else in your life."

The GOP legislation also repealed SNAP work exemptions for the homeless, veterans and young adults aging out of foster care while limiting the ability of states to waive work requirements in areas lacking jobs.

The new requirements — which were originally supposed to go into effect in New York in November but were postponed by a court order — are expected to reduce the average monthly number of SNAP recipients nationwide by about 2.4 million people over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Roughly 30% of New York SNAP beneficiaries are children and another 31% are elderly or the disabled, according to the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.

The average monthly SNAP benefit in New York is $376 per household, state officials said.

Food banks can't replace SNAP

On Long Island, food banks, which faced growing demand during the pandemic, when inflation peaked and during last year's government shutdown — while at the same time losing large government funding sources — are bracing for more upheaval with the SNAP changes.

"We will do what we can but we don't necessarily know what the increase in demand will be," said Michael Haynes, vice president of government affairs for Long Island Cares-the Harry Chapin Food Bank in Hauppauge. " ... And if demand is higher than anticipated, we'll mobilize our network. We'll fundraise. We'll do what we can to get more food."

But food banks, May said, can do only so much.

SNAP benefits, he said, provide an estimated nine meals for every one meal that food banks can provide.

"Our ability to make up for SNAP isn't going to be there," May said. "Food banks cannot replace SNAP benefits. We believe in the dignity of work ... but to take away SNAP benefits from individuals who are relying on it in this broad-brush way is unlikely to help anyone, and could dramatically increase food insecurity on Long Island."

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.