SNAP benefits changes could affect about 2 million Illinoisans
CHICAGO (CBS) – In just a few weeks, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, recipients will see their benefits decrease.
That's because the emergency funds households received because of the COVID-19 pandemic are ending due to recent policy changes at the federal level. CBS 2's Sabrina Franza spoke with families about how this change could significantly impact them.
No one CBS 2 spoke to even knew this change was happening, which could pose a big problem because after Feb. 28, the extra money they've had for almost three years is going away.
In April of 2020, the Illinois Department of Human Services increased SNAP benefits by issuing "emergency allotments," an increase in funding per participant to help pay for food during the pandemic.
Each household received a minimum of $95 over what they'd been receiving pre-pandemic.
Experts estimate that will affect about 2 million recipients just in the state of Illinois, taking away anywhere between $95 and $200 per month.
That includes a single mother of four CBS 2 spoke with who's been receiving benefits for 19 years. The last three years, the money on her link card, which holds the funds, was a little higher.
"Even if it's $20 that you're losing, it can make a big difference and mostly nowadays that everything is so expensive," said Ana Salgado, a SNAP recipient. "It would just make it more of a burden for the parent to try to figure out how she's gonna make up that extra hundred or whatever it is that they're taking away."
Salgado knows what it feels like to be hungry. She spoke to CBS 2 a few months ago when her link card came up empty because she was a victim of fraud.
"That one month that I didn't have the link card, it was the most stressful month that I've ever had," she said.
Salgado said she uses every single penny to pay for food for her and her kids.
Man-Yee Lee works for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. They're already preparing for an influx of people at their distribution sites.
"This will increase food insecurity and stress a charitable food system that has been responding to a multi-year hunger crisis," Lee said.
The change starts after Feb. 28.