Thousands of Missourians may lose food stamps

Clock ticking for reforms to kick in next month

Nearly 30,000 Missourians could lose their food stamps this April as a result of federal and state welfare reform legislation - passed nine years apart.

In 1996, Congress passed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and ruled childless, able-bodied adults could receive food stamps for three months during a three-year period if they were working at least 20 hours per week or in a job-training program. States had the option to request a waiver that would give an exception to areas of high unemployment.

State legislation, passed in 2015, removed Missouri's ability to request the waiver and reinstated the federal work requirements instated in the mid-1990s. Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed the bill, but it was overridden in the Senate and House. It came into effect on the first day of this year, starting the clock on the three-month period.

Glenn Koenen, Hunger Task Force chair at Empower Missouri, a statewide organization advocating for those in poverty, said the waiver became useful during the Great Recession, the economic downturn that hit its peak during 2008-09. The change outlined in state legislation is hitting a large number of Missourians at once and not allowing time for the unemployed to phase into the work force.

Starting April 1, those on food stamps must work at least 20 hours per week, Koenen said, in order to meet the federal requirements. He said this stipulation unfairly discredits those with work hours that vary, like restaurant employees and seasonal workers.

"There are a lot of jobs in which they want to keep their employees but there may be times when the employees don't get 20 hours per week like they need," he said. "Those people are going to lose food stamps even though they are still working. They're wanting to work full time, but it's all depending on what the jobs are and where the jobs are."

Missouri's unemployment rate for February was 4.2 percent, according to the Department of Economic Development. That figure isn't reflective of the childless, able-bodied adults ages 18-49 who are facing various challenges to find work, Koenen said. Those individuals are reflected in the state's U-6 unemployment percentage, which was 9.3 percent in 2015.

"They are involuntarily working part time or are discouraged because there aren't jobs in their areas," he said.

St. Louis, Kansas City, the Ozark region and the bootheel in southeast Missouri will be hit the hardest, Koenen said, as those areas already face challenges with high unemployment and low wages. Because fewer people will have fewer resources, he said, their finances will be stretched thinner and local businesses will hurt in a ripple effect.

Food pantries could also face a greater burden - trying to feed thousands of Missourians who once received about $125 per month individually through SNAP. Koenen said food pantries supply enough food to last three days or a week, but most are on the shorter end.

"You can't eat just three days a month," Koenen said. "That means the food pantries that are already struggling - or having problems getting enough food for everyone - are going to have to find a way to supplement supplies dramatically, cut food to some people or stretch supplies so they can get food to these people who don't have anywhere else to turn."

Bobbie Kincade, associate director of the Food Bank of Central and Northeast Missouri, said food banks throughout Missouri are going to adapt quickly in order to potentially feed more hungry stomachs.

"(This change) means that they will not be able to go to the grocery stores and get food, so they will be relying on our food even more," she said.

Misconceptions surrounding food stamps led to Missourians losing the benefits, said Darin Preis, executive director of Central Missouri Community Action. He said the public sometimes thinks people on food stamps are commonly using the assistance illicitly, such as buying alcohol and cigarettes or selling the benefits to purchase drugs.

"Certainly, with any system there are going to be people who abuse that system. I can't deny that is a case," he said. "But the fact is that the huge majority of people who get food stamps need them. They're underemployed, and their income is so low that they lack the basic necessities of life. I think the perception is that poor people want to be poor or they're not trying hard enough, but that's just not the reality.

People are trying hard to put the pieces together, but when you don't make enough money to cover the bills you have to start juggling those expenses, and food isn't one of them you can juggle."

A family's lifetime limit for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program was also cut by 15 months, according to Empower Missouri.