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yesterday

SNAP Enrollment Drops by About Five Million After H.R.1 Work Rules

The sharp decline is straining food banks, shifting costs and potential benefit liabilities onto states, and prompting calls from officials to delay or alter the changes.

Houston-area SNAP enrollment fell 18% over the past year, dropping to the lowest level in available state data as local food pantries reported serving more people. Volunteers help hand out food during a food distribution event put on by the Houston Food Bank at HISD's Barnett Stadium in Houston in 2025. 
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Overview

  • A U.S. Department of Agriculture snapshot from April 2026 showed nearly 37 million people on SNAP, about five million fewer than a year earlier after the One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R.1) took effect.
  • H.R.1 expanded work requirements to roughly 80 hours a month for many adults and raised the age range for those rules, creating new documentation and recertification steps that states must process.
  • Enrollment falls have varied widely by state with Arizona reporting the steepest drop of about 55 percent and several southern states losing more than 20 percent of participants.
  • Local charities report rising need as SNAP rolls shrink, with the Houston Food Bank seeing a 24 percent month‑to‑month increase in people seeking help and pantries struggling to keep fresh food available.
  • Federal law will shift more costs to states with a lower federal administrative match starting in October 2026 and a rule from October 2027 that could require states with error rates of 6 percent or higher to pay 5 to 15 percent of benefit costs, creating potential multi‑billion dollar liabilities for some states.