{"id":19049,"date":"2025-10-27T21:48:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T21:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/19049\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T21:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T21:48:07","slug":"true-hunger-crisis-in-the-making-as-1-8-million-nyc-residents-face-snap-funding-freeze-next-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/19049\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018True hunger crisis\u2019 in the making as 1.8 million NYC residents face SNAP funding freeze next month"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 1.8 million New York City residents could lose access to food assistance this week as the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed it will stop issuing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)<\/a> benefits starting Nov. 1, citing a lack of federal funding during the ongoing government shutdown.<\/p>\n

The potential impact cuts across every congressional district. Data from the state shows that more than 1.8 million city residents rely on SNAP, including 272,857 in the Bronx\u2019s 15th District, the highest total in the state. Brooklyn\u2019s 8th District follows with 201,200 recipients, while Manhattan\u2019s 13th District, covering Harlem and Upper Manhattan, counts 220,555 people enrolled.<\/p>\n

Other districts with significant numbers include the 9th District in Central Brooklyn (171,678), the 14th District in Queens and the Bronx (159,636), and the 7th District, which spans parts of Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan (146,306).<\/p>\n

Even the city\u2019s smallest totals, 28,015 in the 3rd District and 40,337 in the 12th District, represent tens of thousands of households that are now uncertain about how they\u2019ll afford groceries next week.<\/p>\n

The USDA claimed on Monday<\/a> that \u201cthe well has run dry,\u201d blaming Senate Democrats for the budget impasse in Washington that has pushed the shutdown into its 27th day.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time, there will be no benefits issued on Nov. 1,\u201d the agency wrote in a statement that included false claims that Democrats were prioritizing healthcare for undocumented people.\n<\/p>\n

Undocumented individuals are not eligible for federal healthcare programs, and the Democrats\u2019 proposal does not seek to change that policy.\n<\/p>\n

Senate Democrats have so far withheld support for a spending plan as they press to renew Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire at the end of the year. A lapse in those tax credits could cost middle- and lower-income families thousands of dollars in higher premiums.<\/p>\n

The Senate is scheduled to vote again this week on a government reopening plan passed by the House, after having rejected the continuing resolution 12 times. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized President Trump on the Senate floor Monday<\/a>, saying he is creating a SNAP crisis rather than cooperating with Democrats to end the government shutdown.<\/p>\n

Schumer pointed out that the administration quickly sent $40 billion to Argentina to support Trump ally Javier Milei<\/a> while denying nutrition assistance to struggling American families, calling the move audacious.<\/p>\n

New York injects cash into food banks<\/p>\n

In a bid to mitigate the crisis in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced $30 million in emergency state funds to support an estimated 16 million meals statewide, supplementing the $11 million in food bank aid she approved last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I\u2019ve said repeatedly that no state can backfill these devastating cuts, I am committed to ensuring New Yorkers do not go hungry this holiday season and am taking action to support the families suffering the consequences of Republicans\u2019 cruelty,\u201d Hochul said at a rally in Harlem on Monday. Since SNAP is a federal program, states cannot unilaterally backfill the program without federal approval.<\/p>\n

She also launched a state website, ny.gov\/federalcuts<\/a>, for residents to share how the funding freeze is affecting them. Statewide, nearly 3 million New Yorkers could be affected by the cuts.<\/p>\n

\"Gov.Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a rally in Harlem on Monday, announcing $30 million in emergency state funds to help New Yorkers affected by the SNAP funding freezePhoto by Susan Watts\/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul<\/p>\n

Hochul urged Congress to immediately reopen the government or authorize contingency funds to ensure November benefits are issued. \u201cAll we\u2019re saying is just unfreeze the SNAP funding. You can do this. Get back to work. Stop the shutdown. Stop taking away health care, stop taking away food. Just start looking out for the American people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Queens State Sen. James Sanders called on Hochul to convene an emergency session of state lawmakers to expand the state\u2019s response. \u201cNo one should go hungry because of Washington\u2019s dysfunction,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Trump administration\u2019s refusal to release these essential funds is not only irresponsible \u2014 it\u2019s an assault on basic human decency. \u2026\u00a0We cannot wait while millions of New Yorkers face empty plates and growing fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Governor\u2019s office did not immediately respond to queries regarding Sanders\u2019 plea for a special session; lawmakers in Albany are due to reconvene in January.\n<\/p>\n

\u2018A true hunger crisis\u2019<\/p>\n

Additionally, on Monday, Legal Aid filed a class action lawsuit<\/a> challenging a separate USDA decision to end a longstanding waiver that shields about 100,000 NYC recipients, categorized as \u201cAble-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs), from strict work requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cMillions of New Yorkers rely on SNAP each month to keep food on the table and their pantries stocked, including seniors, people with disabilities, children, and working families. SNAP is essential to keeping New Yorkers safe, nourished, and their communities strong,\u201d said Adriene Holder, Chief Attorney of the Civil Practice at The Legal Aid Society.<\/p>\n

Holder urged the USDA to immediately release the federally authorized contingency funds needed to allow states, including New York, to issue November SNAP benefits.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

The lawsuit argues the agency acted unlawfully by terminating the waiver months before it was due to expire in February 2026, forcing the city\u2019s Human Resources Administration to rush implementation and risk widespread benefit loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cTerminating the ABAWD waiver months before it was set to expire is not only unlawful, but unnecessarily cruel during a time of historic unaffordability,\u201d said Laboni Rahman, an attorney with Legal Aid\u2019s Civil Law Reform Unit. \u201cThe rushed implementation of the ABAWD work requirement will undoubtedly lead to confusion and administrative chaos, resulting in more New Yorkers losing subsistence-level benefits that may be the only thing standing between them and food insecurity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helen Strom, director of the Benefits and Homeless Advocacy Unit at the Urban Justice Center, said the new rules \u201cset up an impossible deadline,\u201d warning that \u201ctens of thousands of people contacting the city about the new work requirements will only exacerbate\u201d already overburdened SNAP offices.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople receiving SNAP in NYC already face hours-long waits on understaffed phone lines and at SNAP offices just to maintain their benefits,\u201d Strom continued. \u201cThe tens of thousands of people contacting the City about the new work requirements will only exacerbate these issues, and many will not be able to get through at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the city level, Legal Aid said Human Resources Administration officials are scrambling to prepare for potential funding gaps while facing \u201cimmense administrative burdens\u201d from the USDA\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

Advocates warn that even with $41 million in state emergency aid, food banks and community pantries will be quickly overwhelmed if federal SNAP payments stop. \u201cWe are facing a true hunger crisis in New York City with 1.8 million people at risk of losing their November benefits and tens of thousands at risk of losing their benefits indefinitely due to ABAWD cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly 1.8 million New York City residents could lose access to food assistance this week as the U.S.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6420,426,13052,9,56,63,65,64,10604],"class_list":{"0":"post-19049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-food-insecurity","9":"tag-kathy-hochul","10":"tag-legal-aid","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-ny","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nyc-headlines","15":"tag-nyc-news","16":"tag-snap"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}