New rules for CalFresh food program mean thousands in San Diego losing benefits

This article first appeared in inewsource Sign up for their newsletters here Starting Nov people using the food assistance plan CalFresh known as SNAP nationally will have three months to find work before they are kicked off the scheme The new work requirements are part of President Donald Trump s One Big Beautiful Bill Act A memo published Oct by the U S Department of Agriculture notified states of the new earlier deadline to implement the changes California had expected regulations to take effect in January because it had an existing waiver exempting all able-bodied adults without dependents from the work requirements The state got the waiver by showing it didn t have enough jobs USDA abruptly canceled California s waiver along with six other states and territories with full waivers and states with partial waivers San Diego County agents estimate that people in the region will be subject to the new work requirements Before the new bill adults without disabilities between the ages of and could receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Project benefits for three months in a three-year period without showing they are gainfully employed for at least hours per month Certain government-approved volunteer work can also qualify but caregiving to children or older adults does not The new exemption now applies only to adults starting at age and for parents with children younger than It also removes exemptions put in place during the Biden administration for veterans people experiencing homelessness and former foster youth under age This new guidance effectively ends food assistance for thousands of San Diegans overnight declared Alondra Alvarado president and CEO of the San Diego Hunger Coalition We re already hearing confusion and fear from public partners and we expect food banks and meal programs to be overwhelmed as people lose benefits far sooner than expected This agenda punishes people for being poor not for failing to work Long-term impacts to state county budgets The unexpected news could have staggering consequences for state and county budgets Before the One Big Beautiful Bill Act the federal executive paid for all of the food distributed through SNAP Starting in states will be responsible for part of that cost The amount will depend on the percentage of effort benefits over- or underpaid to recipients this and next year The new USDA memo makes California responsible for correctly paying out benefits starting Nov and any mistakes will be penalized by making states pay an increased share of the cost of SNAP benefits California was already in the top bracket for error penalties which will cost the state about billion if they are unable to reduce it Now the state has a shorter timeline to set up a way to correctly administer the project under the new rules and get the penalty cost down Counties are also bracing for the challenge of definitely administering the project which they have to pay for themselves San Diego County estimates it demands to hire staff just to administer CalFresh H R s changes to CalFresh will create an administrative burden divert tools from other programs and the majority importantly leave families hungry while worsening wellbeing outcomes California Association of Counties CEO Graham Knaus explained Unless the state backfills federal cuts or relieves us of state mandates we ll be forced to slash core local services from inhabitants safety to parks The state s new CalFresh funding is an crucial start The association requested about million from the state to address the administrative workload and got about half in a September budget package A San Diego County spokesperson mentioned all SNAP recipients will be notified of benefit cancellations once the state issues guidance and referred additional questions to the California Department of Social Services The state agency explained in a declaration they were assessing newest federal changes and remain committed to ensuring Californians have access to food aid inewsource is a community-focused nonprofit nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and accountability journalism The news outlet is a Pu litzer Prize finalist