A bill was heard in the Human Services Reform Committee this week that would address Minnesota’s hunger crisis by increasing eligibility to Minnesota’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Last year there was a record 3.8 million visits to food banks and food shelves. An estimated one in nine Minnesotans do not have enough to eat and many more report difficulty affording food and other basic needs. A steep rise in food insecurity is one of the many hardships to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, hitting our children and seniors particularly hard, especially those in communities of color.
Many families make just over the current income limit, putting needed benefits out of reach. This proposal would also allow us to leverage more federal funding and put us in line with many other states who have already raised this cap. Raising the income limit to our state’s SNAP program to 200% of the federal poverty line is one way to help these families put food on the table and recover from this pandemic. (SF 759)
