Alliance Alert: As New York continues to face rising levels of food insecurity, this new report highlights the urgent need for the state to improve access to SNAP benefits and ensure eligible individuals and families are not left behind. Nearly 900,000 low-income New Yorkers missing out on an estimated $1.1 billion in food assistance is not only a policy failure, but a public health crisis that affects people’s physical health, mental health, stability, and overall quality of life.
The Alliance for Rights and Recovery remains deeply concerned that new federal SNAP work requirements and eligibility restrictions will create additional barriers for people already struggling to access healthy food. Many New Yorkers experiencing mental health challenges, substance use challenges, unstable housing, poverty, or other hardships already face complicated bureaucratic systems that can make it difficult to maintain benefits or navigate eligibility requirements. If these changes are implemented poorly, many eligible individuals could lose access to food assistance simply because they are unable to navigate the system, complete paperwork, or meet reporting requirements on time.
At the same time, New York must do everything possible to make the system more streamlined, accessible, and supportive for people trying to meet these requirements. This includes investing in stronger outreach efforts, simplifying enrollment and recertification processes, improving communication around eligibility, and helping connect people to employment, volunteer, educational, and workforce development opportunities that can support both benefit eligibility and long-term pathways toward greater independence and stability.
The state’s goal should not simply be reducing caseloads. It should be reducing hunger and ensuring every New Yorker has access to the nutrition they need to live healthy and productive lives. SNAP is one of the most effective anti-poverty and anti-hunger programs in the country, and ensuring eligible individuals can successfully access benefits also strengthens local economies and communities.
The Alliance will continue advocating to push New York to improve its SNAP systems so eligible people are not improperly removed from needed food assistance and so individuals and families who may not realize they qualify for support receive the outreach and assistance necessary to access healthy food and maintain stability.
SNAP-Eligible New Yorkers Missing Out On $1.1B, Report Says
By Amanda D’Ambrosio | Crain’s Healthcare | May 18, 2026
Nearly 900,000 low-income New Yorkers likely eligible for food assistance in 2024 were not signed up, leaving $1.1 billion in annual benefits unclaimed — a gap that could widen as reforms in President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” take effect, a new report says
The findings come as the federal government implements new work requirements and eligibility restrictions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, that could reduce benefits for 300,000 households in New York by the end of this year, according to the report from the Midtown-based research group New York Health Foundation.
The new rules stand to reduce households’ monthly cash benefits for food, potentially worsening elevated rates of food insecurity. Approximately 12.3% of New York households experienced food insecurity between 2021 and 2023, up from 10.5% between 2018 and 2020, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Right now, we are seeing higher-than-ever food insecurity rates in New York City and across the state,” said Julia McCarthy, senior program officer at the New York Health Foundation and author of the report. “Those benefits are really needed.”
Changes to SNAP are being implemented as part of H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which went into law last year. The Congressional Budget Office estimates it will reduce total SNAP spending by $187 billion over ten years.
SNAP serves nearly 3 million New Yorkers monthly and delivers $7.4 billion in annual benefits, New York Health Foundation’s report said. While the program provides food assistance to thousands of households, eligible New Yorkers may not enroll because they fear stigma, do not know they are eligible or experience difficulties signing up, McCarthy said.
Increasing enrollment would not only increase access to food assistance, but could also boost the local economy, McCarthy’s report said. The 876,645 low-income New Yorkers who were not enrolled in SNAP in 2024 left $1.1 billion on the table, a sum that would have generated $1.7 billion in economic activity due to the program’s multiplier effect, according to the foundation.
SNAP eligibility requires certain able-bodied adults to prove that they are working, in school or volunteering for at least 80 hours per month to receive benefits. Changes went into effect March 1 which limit states’ ability to waive the requirement and without exemption, benefits are limited to three months in a three-year period. The changed rules apply to homeless, veterans and youth aging out of foster care.
The federal government also increased SNAP restrictions for lawfully present immigrants and shifted additional benefit costs to states, including administrative and reporting requirements.
“What we have right now is a total assault on SNAP,” McCarthy said. “We’re really worried that as people fall off the program, they won’t come back on, even though they are eligible.”