The Impact of SNAP Time Limits on Household Food Insecurity (WCPC Seminar Series , 11/19/2018)
Posted: 11/9/2018 (Local Events)
WCPC Seminar Series on Poverty and Public Policy
“The Impact of SNAP Time Limits on Household Food Insecurity”
SARAH CHARNES
Evans School of Public Policy & Governance
*Q&A until 2:00 pm
Recently, the U.S. political system has seen a groundswell in rhetoric regarding work requirements for recipients of social safety net programs. This has been characterized both by moves to revive work requirements that were introduced by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), and to introduce new work requirements all together. One such work requirement stemming from PRWORA applies to beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Eligible recipients who are “able-bodied adults without dependents” (“ABAWDs”) are subject to a three-month limitation on SNAP receipt within a 36-month period, unless they meet specific employment or training requirements. However, work requirements for ABAWDs can be temporarily waived in geographic areas where unemployment is high or where there is a lack of available jobs.
Because of the systematically high unemployment rates that followed the Great Recession, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) offered all states the ability to suspend ABAWD work requirements without having to seek federal approval as of April 1, 2009. Most states followed suit for several years. Some states have since begun to reinstate work requirements in some or all counties, at a staggered pace.
Through their influence on SNAP participation, the reinstatement of work requirements may also be consequential for SNAP recipients’ household food insecurity status. This study evaluates the effect of work requirements on the presence and depth of household food insecurity of ABAWD households.
Date: 11/19/2018
Time: 12:30 PM-1:30 PM
Location: School of Social Work, Room 305A