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In the midst of a national legal battle over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Georgia has started the process of implementing expanded work requirements for people getting the food aid.
The new requirements were enacted as part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” signed by President Donald Trump in July, and the Georgia Department of Human Services announced it would implement them beginning Nov. 1.
The new requirements will result in about 96,000 Georgia SNAP recipients out of a total of 1.4 million eventually losing their benefits, according to an estimate from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
For those already enrolled in the program, the requirements kick in when they recertify their eligibility, typically every four months for able-bodied adults in Georgia. New participants will have three months to meet the work requirements, said Gina Plata-Nino, the SNAP director for the Food Research and Action Center.
SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, was created in the 1960s to provide food aid to low-income people, typically those who are living at or around the federal poverty level, which amounts to a $3,483 monthly gross income for a family of four, or $1,696 for a single person.
About 1 in 8 Georgians are enrolled in the program, which allows them to purchase food at 9,800 retailers across the state, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
While the program has for many years required participants to work, the regulations that took effect Nov. 1 add requirements for three groups that have since 2023 been exempt: the homeless, veterans, and youth aging out of foster care.
Whereas previously the requirements applied to those up to age 54, the new requirements in Georgia will apply to those up to age 60, according to the Georgia Department of Human Services. And while previously caretakers of children under age 18 were exempt, now the exemption only applies to those who take care of children 14 and under.
People will have to work or participate in an employment and training program for an average of 20 hours each week to maintain eligibility. If people fail to meet the work requirements for three months in a 36-month-period, they lose benefits.
Certain groups are still exempt, including those who are pregnant or mentally and physically unfit for work, as determined by the caseworker and, in some cases, medical professionals, or the receipt of disability benefits.
“It’s going to increase hunger,” Plata-Nino said. “There are people who are not going to get benefits in the future, even though they’re still hungry, even though they still have no other income, just because there are insufficient jobs, and they’re doing the best they can working 19.5 hours” instead of 20 a week.
“You’ll start seeing it really around the winter time, around February, March, when whole buckets of populations as a whole will start losing benefits,” as people undergo the recertification process for the first time under the new requirements, she said.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act also ended SNAP benefits for refugees, asylum seekers, trafficking and domestic violence victims, and some other groups who are living in the United States lawfully. The rules will be applied to new applicants at the time of their application and to people already receiving SNAP when they seek recertification.
A post from Trump on Truth Social earlier this week said that under President Joe Biden, the benefits were “haphazardly ‘handed’ to anyone for the asking, as opposed to just those in need, which is the purpose of SNAP!”
SNAP benefits for November to be paid in full
The systemic changes come as the program has been thrown into crisis due to the federal government shutdown. The U.S. Department of Agriculture last month announced that the program would run out of funds beginning in November.
That prompted two legal challenges, one filed by a group of Democratic-led states and one filed by a coalition of municipalities, nonprofit groups, businesses, and unions.
On Friday, the USDA said in a letter to state SNAP directors that it would comply with a Thursday federal court order to send the full November benefits to states.
Georgia DHS spokesperson Ellen Brown said Friday the agency will comply with the latest federal guidance, although the timeline for sending the money to recipients was not yet clear.
The process for moving the funds from the federal government to beneficiaries can be complex, involving several steps, Plata-Nino said.
WIC funding expected to last into December
Meanwhile, the release of an additional $450 million in emergency funds last week has given a separate nutrition program – the Women, Infants and Children program – a few more weeks of breathing room.
WIC, administered by the Georgia Department of Public Health, focuses on low-income pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and children under 5.
“At this time, DPH is projecting Georgia WIC will have sufficient funding to provide WIC benefits through approximately the first week of December,” spokesperson Nancy Nydam Shirek said. The funds will allow the agency to continue to operate WIC clinics at local public health departments through the end of the year.
Georgia has 248,506 people enrolled in WIC.
The program, unlike SNAP, is limited to certain foods, including baby formula. WIC also provides additional services like breastfeeding support.
“WIC is serving individuals at such a critical time of growth and development. Forty percent of all infants born in this country are participating in WIC,” said Kate Scully, deputy director of WIC at the Food Research and Advocacy Center. “It’s providing them the formula they need if they’re not being breastfed. And these are things that babies can’t go without. You can’t just substitute something else.”
This story has been updated to reflect the USDA’s announcement Friday that it would comply with a federal court order to send the full November SNAP benefits to states.
Is the federal shutdown affecting you? Reach out to Rebecca Grapevine at rgrapevine@healthbeat.org with your story.
