SNAP was designed to make access to food easier for people. So why can’t people get hot meals?

On May 29, many restaurants reopened their doors, patios, and parking lots to customers. Sit-down restaurants and other eateries have found innovative ways to keep serving food to patrons, while local leaders are supporting these efforts by developing new regulations that allow for outside dining and the delivery of alcohol. As people look for safer options to get food, however, one segment of the population remains limited in their choices.

In a time when a simple activity for many people, like purchasing groceries, is made more complicated by the coronavirus pandemic, social distancing, and safety concerns, people participating in public food assistance programs, like SNAP, can’t even purchase hot meals. But why?

To answer that question we have to first understand, what is SNAP, anyway?

What is SNAP?

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, (SNAP) provides nutrition benefits to people so they can purchase food. Formerly known as the food stamp program, it is the principal anti-hunger program in the United States. The program is managed by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

To be eligible for SNAP people must usually be unemployed, working for low wage or working part-time, receiving welfare or another form of public assistance, be elderly, disabled and are low income, or are experiencing homelessness.

Nearly 40 million people in the US use SNAP, according to data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Regionally, it serves more than 94,000 DC residents, 619,000 Maryland residents, and 705,000 residents in Virginia. For context, that’s about one in 9 or 12% of the US population.

Food assistance programs have been around in the US, in one capacity or another, since 1939, according to FNS.

How does it work?

SNAP benefits are loaded onto an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card, which is similar to an ATM card.

The benefits can be used at most grocery stores and at convenience stores like 7-Eleven and CVS, to purchase food items such as meat and poultry, fruits and vegetables, breads and cereals, and some snacks.

Restrictions to SNAP

There are some restrictions as to what can be purchased through SNAP. Tobacco products, alcohol, and household products like aluminum foil or laundry detergent cannot be purchased with benefits.

Two odd additions to this list are what the USDA calls “prepared foods fit for immediate consumption” and any hot foods. For example, a SNAP beneficiary can purchase a frozen prepared meal that must be reheated, but not a cobb salad prepared at a salad bar. A recipient can buy frozen chicken that is breaded and seasoned, but not a warm rotisserie chicken that might need to be reheated once they get home.

How does this make the problem of food insecurities worse?

Communities at the frontline of COVID-19 are largely communities that have had high rates of food insecurity and lower access to fresh foods. These communities tend to have higher numbers of SNAP recipients. The District’s Ward 8 and 7 rank first and second in the number of SNAP beneficiaries, but have just three stores. There are other innovations to give SNAP recipients more options, like DC Central Kitchen’s Healthy Corners program, however, those still fall short.

Low-income residents in these parts of the city have been forced to pile into the same three stores, travel miles to other area groceries, or depend upon the work of nonprofits. Now, these communities must expend precious time and money on travel while risking possible infection Some residents have turned to the Wharf for low-cost, outdoor shopping, but similar alternatives are few and far between.

SNAP guidelines have been changed to meet the demands in a crisis

The coronavirus pandemic has ramped up the number of people facing food insecurity, and agencies are scrambling to find ways to meet the demand. DC Central Kitchen’s Laura Belazis says they are seeing an unprecedented increase in need. “We’re doing everything we can to meet this need by serving 60,000 emergency meals a week,” Belazis said, “but nonprofits cannot fill the gap alone.”

In the face of bare shelves at grocery stores, some local restaurants have repurposed their empty spaces as local markets. The USDA has even allowed some states and DC to run pilot programs that allow Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients to purchase groceries online through delivery platforms.

During natural disasters like hurricanes or tornadoes, the FNS, which oversees SNAP, has often waived the prepared food restriction, but what about during a pandemic?

Through a FNS waiver, DC and other states have expanded the list of groceries that beneficiaries of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) can buy to include things like kefir, soy milk, and organic eggs or produce.

Some governors are treating the ongoing crisis as any other natural disaster, with some going beyond. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, has even asked the FNS to allow SNAP purchases take-out from restaurants, institutions with access to the food distribution chain, in response to the unprecedented demand for food assistance.

Expanding the program has picked up the attention of two members of Congress and a coalition of advocates and trade associations.

There is precedent for SNAP benefits being used to purchase meals at restaurants. The Restaurant Meals Program is a voluntary program that allows states to let SNAP recipients purchase food at select restaurants. To date, California (in 10 out of the states 58 counties) and Arizona participate in the program. There are also pilots in Rhode Island and Illinois.

Last year, Maryland’s General Assembly passed legislation taking advantage of the Restaurant Meals Program provision, but the bill was vetoed in May of that same year by Governor Larry Hogan.

Allowing SNAP beneficiaries to purchase food from restaurants at a time when millions are at risk of going hungry and thousands of restaurant owners have seen their business sharply decline could not only keep people fed, but jumpstart economic recovery.

Belazis adds, “We need programs like SNAP and WIC to be as flexible and creative as ever if we’re going to address immediate hunger while getting our food economy going again.”

Even as Democrats and Republicans in Congress fight over whether to increase federal aid for food assistance, increased benefits may be little help to people with limited food options. Whether people have expanded food options through the duration of this health and economic crisis will be up to elected officials at the state and local level. Their choices will determine whether our recovery leaves people whole, or leaves them behind.