Millions of people have already lost access to food stamps since new federal work requirements took effect on June 1. Advocates now say thousands of New Yorkers could still be impacted.<\/p>\n
For single mothers like Lakeshia Alexander, just walking into the grocery store is stressful.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t work, I have a disability and I love to cook,\u201d said Lakeshia Alexander, a SNAP recipient. \u201cGroceries is already expensive. To get a good gallon of milk is like $10, who\u2019s gonna pay for that with cash?\u201d <\/p>\n
Alexander lives at the Shirley Chisholm Family Shelter in Park Slope with her three teenagers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wouldn\u2019t be able to have food and I\u2019m pretty sure with the pantries, the lines would be outrageous. Not having SNAP, we\u2019d have to stand in line all day just to get a bag of potatoes,” Alexander said.<\/p>\n
New federal work requirements apply to adults ages 18 to 64 who are physically able to work. To keep their benefits, they must work at least 80 hours a month, go to school or volunteer.<\/p>\n
Alexander says it will force families like hers to make tough choices.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a mother, that\u2019s a very hard choice to make,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cEventually, you\u2019re gonna have to choose if we\u2019re gonna eat tonight or if you\u2019re gonna get that diabetic medication.\u201d<\/p>\n
Employees with Win, a nonprofit that provides shelter for families across the city, say Alexander\u2019s family is not alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone who is a qualified non-citizen is completely kicked off of SNAP now, so you know the city reported even last week that they\u2019re expecting that 15,000 people across New York City – immigrants – will lose access to SNAP completely over the course of the next year. That is devastating and humanitarian crisis,\u201d said Maya Jasinka, Win\u2019s director of policy and research.<\/p>\n
Jasinka says their team is working around the clock to help New Yorkers find a way to keep their benefits.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you actually in school? Have you not reported that you\u2019re working? Maybe you have part-time work that you haven\u2019t and then to figure out what does compliance look like in a way that works for you,\u201d Jasinka said.<\/p>\n
People who are pregnant, have certain disabilities or health conditions, or care for children 13 or younger can qualify for an exemption.<\/p>\n
Alexander is hoping she will.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe they need to come see what it\u2019s like to not be able to buy food with cash to see how it feels to only have $50 for the month to feed your kids,\u201d Alexander said.<\/p>\n
The city says anyone who believes they may qualify for an exemption or has questions about their benefits should call 718-SNAP-NOW.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Millions of people have already lost access to food stamps since new federal work requirements took effect on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-262645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262645","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=262645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}