New food aid requirements will affect 23,000 Mass. residents
Unemployed Massachusetts residents receiving food assistance have two more months to find a job or lose their benefits, according to the Associated Press.
SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, had been tied to employment since 1996, when a work for food law was enacted that required any able bodied person—without children and between the ages of 18 to 49—to have a job or try to get a job for 80 hours a week. Three months of failing to meet these requirements would result in aid being cut off. That was until the cap was waived with the hit of the recession in 2008.
As the economy improves and unemployment falls, states are reinforcing the work law and its time cap. It’s the largest reinstatement of the three-month cap since the recession, the AP reported.
By reinstating it, more than 1 million low-income residents in 22 states could soon lose their government food stamps if they fail to meet work requirements—and 23,000 of those people are in Massachusetts, WCVB reports. The time limit is returning in Massachusetts because the state was no longer eligible for a waiver, according to NPR.
Directors at nonprofit food banks told the AP that they expect to see at least a temporary increase in people seeking help as their food stamps go away.
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