WA food banks brace for longer lines amid SNAP cuts: ‘It eats a piece of my soul’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Federal reforms slash SNAP funding by 20%, raising food insecurity concerns.
- Washington food banks brace for increased demand amid limited food supplies.
- New SNAP rules expand work requirements and shift costs to state governments.
Shalimar Gonzales doesn’t know of a single food bank that can easily absorb the wave of new clients likely coming their way.
Gonzales is CEO of Solid Ground, a Seattle-based community action agency focused on solving poverty in Washington. She said that H.R. 1, also called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” will hurt folks in myriad ways, including through cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, now referred to as SNAP.
“Most food banks — we have one [by nonprofit FamilyWorks] running downstairs right now, and when they’re closing up shop in about an hour and a half, there will be very little left on the shelves,” Gonzales said.
“And so I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when that line is three times the size.”
The sprawling new federal tax and policy law also locks in controversial shifts to Medicaid, the health coverage for low-income people.
Supporters contend that the law will help to preserve the core intent of social safety-net programs through eliminating waste and fraud. But naysayers — including community advocates and Democratic politicians — argue that the “cruel” cuts leave the less-financially fortunate hanging out to dry, all to benefit the already wealthy via tax breaks.
The need for food assistance in Washington has ballooned 18% in the past year, Gonzales said, citing factors such as inflation and the state’s relatively high cost of living. So, the legislation’s 20% slash to SNAP will leave food banks in a bind; it’ll be almost impossible for them to serve as replacements for a system that was designed to be the safety net, she said.
Ken Gibson, deputy director of the Nourish Pierce County food-bank network, said there are still many unknowns. Increases in need are likely coming as decreases in food supplies loom.
“So you know, that safety net — when the safety net isn’t there, what do you do?” Gibson said.
WA data on food-benefit reduction
In a July 3 news release, the office of Gov. Bob Ferguson called the bill’s SNAP impacts “devastating.”
“This bill takes food from our most vulnerable Washingtonians to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy,” Ferguson said in a statement. “This bill is only beautiful to billionaires.”
Roughly 1 million people in Washington use SNAP benefits every month to buy food, said Adolfo Capestany, senior communications director for the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). The department is still analyzing the final bill and awaiting guidance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service.
Some 546,000 households statewide received SNAP benefits, called Basic Food assistance in Washington, at the end of May, Capestany said in an email. The average monthly food benefit for households is about $330.
Capestany also highlighted some of the bill’s economic implications. Federal estimates show that each $1 in SNAP benefits generates more than $1.50 in “local economic activity,” he said. Most benefits are quickly spent at grocery stores and local farmers markets.
“This spending supports local establishments including the people who work in them, local farmers who supply them or sell directly, and all of the associated truck drivers and service providers, for example,” Capestany said.
DSHS estimates that 33,000 asylum seekers and refugees will lose their SNAP-benefit access because they’ll no longer be eligible. And the department projects that approximately 137,000 people in the state are at risk of losing their benefits due to new work requirements included in the bill.
Before the passage of the law, able-bodied adults ages 18 to 54 without dependents could keep their SNAP benefits by working at least 80 hours per month. But the bill raises that age threshold to adults up to 64, also removing exemptions for veterans and parents of kids ages 14 to 17.
For states, the administrative expenses of operating the SNAP program will increase under the bill, from 50% to 75%, and it “introduces a state share for the cost of the benefits themselves,” Capestany said. States don’t currently pay a portion of SNAP benefits, he added.
The state SNAP-benefits share will begin Oct. 1, 2027 and will be tethered to SNAP accuracy error rates, Capestany said. DSHS projects that Washington’s share could range from $100 million to $300 million annually.
Asked for a general timeline of when the SNAP adjustments will occur, Capestany reemphasized that the department is still in the process of examining and sussing out changes.
WA food banks brace for change
The Thurston County Food Bank is expecting to see longer lines at its food pantries and satellite programs, said Executive Director John Ficker. One federally backed program, SNAP-Ed, teaches people how to cook and shop for healthy meals, but Ficker said that it’s slated to shut down at the end of September.
Ficker said that at the Olympia and Lacey food pantries, “we were seeing numbers in the 250 category almost every day that we’re open.” He predicts that by the end of the calendar year, that figure will expand to more than 300.
In 2024, Ficker said, the organization received more than $4 million worth of food. Now he’s hearing hints that there could be a 25% drop in those supplies.
As SNAP adjustments take hold and food-bank lines get longer, pantries will have fewer resources to work with, he said. It’ll be a challenge.
“I mean, on a human level, it breaks my heart,” Ficker said. “I can’t believe that we’re in a situation where we’ve made food insecurity worse as opposed to better. It feels like we should be making progress in the other direction.”
Nourish Pierce County has increased its food-purchasing budget in light of H.R.1, but that’s all donor-funded, said CEO Sue Potter. That means the organization will need to do more fundraising.
In addition, Nourish Pierce County might have to change how often people can visit and adjust hours or operating days to accommodate higher volumes, she said.
Potter pointed out that state legislatures nationwide are now facing a number of federal funding reductions in areas such as health care, food and housing.
“A lot of states, including Washington, don’t have the resources to cover all of that massive funding overnight, or even within five years, without doing some really drastic things that voters won’t want — paying more taxes or whatnot,” she said.
The federal government has historically been a partner in helping to feed people in need, Potter said. Food stamps were created in a bipartisan way.
Potter called the new law “a big, ugly bill.”
“Every time I hear a comment that people don’t deserve food, it eats a piece of my soul,” she said.
Argument for SNAP changes
U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Washington Republican, voted in favor of the bill. His website states that the new law will save taxpayers close to $200 billion via SNAP reforms that “ensure the program works the way Congress intended by reinforcing work, rooting out waste, and instituting long-overdue accountability incentives to control costs.”
In addition, the bill encourages states to fix their SNAP payment error rates, the website says. States with rates of at least 6% will be on the hook for 5%-15% of benefit costs.
The national payment error rate was 10.93% for fiscal year 2024, according to federal data. The rate in Washington state during that time was 6.06%.
State Sen. John Braun, minority leader of the state Legislature’s upper chamber, called the 20-hour-per-week work requirements for SNAP a “fairly low bar.” The Centralia Republican pointed to work reforms passed under Democratic President Bill Clinton’s tenure in the 1990s, arguing that they enabled people to find a way out of poverty long term.
“What’s happened over a couple-plus decades is some of those requirements got weakened, or waivers got allowed, and I think this just resets us to that,” Braun said in an interview. “So I think that’s a good thing. It’s a reasonable thing.”
In Braun’s view, if the federal government is paying for the program, states should have some “skin in the game.”
The SNAP adjustments will help ensure that benefits go to the right people, he said. Washington has been at or near the 6% error-rate benchmark in three of the past five years, he added.
“I think this is focused on accountability,” Braun said, “to ensure that we preserve the program for the long-haul for the people who really need it.”
How to help during SNAP cuts
Solid Ground’s Gonzales urges people to contact their representatives to press them on how they plan to support residents grappling with the SNAP changes. Folks can get connected to their local food banks and help organize food drives, she said.
Ficker with Thurston County Food Bank encourages people to donate food and volunteer.
Potter echoed those sentiments, adding that anyone wanting to help — including those needing to fulfill their SNAP work requirements — can volunteer at Nourish Pierce County.
You can donate to Solid Ground at solid-ground.org/donate, Thurston County Food Bank at tcfb.org/support-us/money, and Nourish Pierce County at nourishpc.org/donate.
.jpg)