Food banks, already struggling with high demand, are bracing themselves for an onslaught once emergency food stamps wind down: 'This is really, really going to hurt some of the most vulnerable populations'

• The pandemic-era emergency allotment of SNAP is ending — affecting consumers, stores, the economy, and food banks.
• Insider talked to people from three food banks to see what they're expecting.
• Food banks are bracing for an onslaught amidst reduced resources and high prices.

Natalie Caples is bracing for a "firestorm."

Caples is the co-CEO of Central California Food Bank, which serves five counties: Madera, Fresno, Kings, and Tulare, as well Kern County through a partner organization. The food bank works with over 200 member partner organizations, such as schools.

The food bank has already been up against high food and gas costs and increased demand. Now, many Californians are seeing their food stamps reduced as a pandemic-era boost to the federal SNAP program draws to a close.

"We are still seeing an elevated level of service now, which is a little concerning for us — while also coupled with the fact that at the end of this month we're going to see the end of the SNAP emergency allotments," Caples told Insider.

The food bank is not alone: Two others told Insider that they're bracing for yet another onslaught of need as their patrons — many of whom still haven't recovered from the economic shockwaves of 2020 — face even greater obstacles. That's because, come March, a pandemic-era expansion of food stamps will wind down abruptly, slashing recipients' grocery budgets by potentially hundreds of dollars a month.

And it's not just the food banks themselves that will be affected but also the programs and partners the food banks work with. For instance, Caples said that for the Central California Food Bank, "a lot of our work happens through these really amazing member partners that are in the communities, like schools, that families or individuals are going to on a regular basis that they trust where they're getting emergency food support." 

At the start of the pandemic, Congress moved quickly to enhance several social services; SNAP, which traditionally allots money for spending on food based on income, temporarily did away with income testing and moved all recipients to the maximum benefit amount. The lowest-earning recipients also got a $95 monthly bump on top of that maximum benefit. But the December omnibus bill stipulated the end of that program, and SNAP recipients are scrambling to figure out how they'll stay fed.

"We've seen clients that we haven't seen in a long time returning, knowing that this is going to impact them next month," Jason Riggs, the client services manager for Roadrunner Food Bank in New Mexico, told Insider. "Thanks to maximized allotments, they were able to get what they needed without having to come to a food pantry and stand in line. Now they're realizing that they're going to need to come out again."

Thousands of dollars and hundreds of meals gone in a snap

Without the emergency allotment, SNAP benefits will average roughly $6 per person per day, according to a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. For contrast, a carton of eggs costs an average of around $4.80 as of January 2023.

And according to estimates shared with Insider by Roadrunner Food Bank, based on Feeding America's 2022 SNAP Impact Calculator Tool, a single-person household in New Mexico will lose out on 803 meals over 15 months. To make up that difference, according to Sonya Warwick, the director of communications for Roadrunner Food Bank in New Mexico, that single person would have to cough up roughly $2,425 more for food.

"You're looking at a senior on a fixed income that's not going to increase — there's no way they can make up that difference," Riggs said. "A lot of people aren't really thinking in terms of that, that this is really, really going to hurt some of the most vulnerable populations."

Caples said "there's really no sugar coating" the difficulties that people "are going to be facing in terms of how they are spending that small amount of money that they have."

"We're talking about seniors choosing between medicine and food," Caples said. "We're talking about our low-income working families, choosing between gas or paying utilities or a medical bill and food."

Losing benefits won't just impact the people buying food; it will also affect the stores and economies that have been keeping them fed.

"When SNAP goes into the community, those dollars are amplified," Nicholas Buess, director of government relations at Food Bank For New York City, told Insider. "Because grocery stores have employees that they pay, employees are then going out and generating economic activities."

Research suggests that every dollar that comes into the local economy from SNAP benefits has an economic impact of over a dollar and a half.

"When you look at that on the total scale, that's many, many more millions of dollars just here in New York City, and, of course, billions of dollars across the country," Buess said.

During the pandemic there was a massive increase in the Food Bank for New York City's food assistance programs. Buess said that, "since the start of the pandemic, the number of visits to our food assistance programs increased by over 80%."

And while demand continues, there isn't as much food available as during the pandemic when food banks were given assistance.

"The reality today is that that emergency food supply has declined," Buess said. "So we're on track to distribute less food this year than we were able to distribute last year because those resources just aren't available."

That reality, coupled with the reduction in benefits, has Buess and the food bank "concerned about families who both rely on resources like food pantries and SNAP to make sure that they have the food that they need for themselves and their families."

In California, according to Caples, the Central California Food Bank saw a spike in demand during the pandemic. After some decline in demand in 2021, soaring inflation in 2022 contributed to "more neighbors again turning to our food bank and our member partners for support."

"The fact that we're choosing to end SNAP emergency allotments and not tie it to the end of the public health emergency — it's just really baffling," Caples said. "And food-insecure neighbors, low-income neighbors, communities of color, seniors are the most vulnerable populations, are the ones that are again going to be thrust into this situation of kind of impossible choices."

Buess shared a similar sentiment.

"We're going to do everything that we can to maximize how many meals that we can distribute through our food pantries and soup kitchens," Buess said. "But SNAP as a program really dwarfs food pantries and soup kitchens. So there's going to need to be additional public programming to help make sure that people really don't fall deeper into a food insecurity gap because of this reduction."

"SNAP is the most effective anti-hunger program," Caples said, "and the fact that we are ending benefits early when we are still experiencing these economic challenges can only result in one thing — and that's a hunger cliff for food banks and neighbors that are food insecure."