Kinder Institute<\/a>. The four counties also account for 22% of Texas\u2019 population.<\/p>\nChildren make up 51% of Houston-area SNAP recipients and accounted for slightly more than half of the recent enrollment decline, the institute found.<\/p>\n
Greene said confusion about the new rules may be driving some of the increased demand at food pantries. Some recipients also are seeking food assistance as a precaution, he said.<\/p>\n
Many recipients struggle to find full-time jobs and instead piece together several part-time positions, Greene said. Some fear that failing to meet the monthly work requirement could leave them ineligible for benefits for an extended period.<\/p>\n
How are the new rules affecting local pantries?<\/p>\n
The Tomball Emergency Assistance Ministries food pantry has seen more older residents and the return of people who had not visited in years, pantry manager Colleen Chalker said.<\/p>\n
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The pantry receives more than half its food from the Houston Food Bank.<\/p>\n
Although donations have increased somewhat, the Houston Food Bank is distributing about the same amount of food as last year among more people, Greene said. In 2025, the food bank and more than 1,600 local partners provided over 143 million meals.<\/p>\n
Relying on food banks to fill gaps left by SNAP restrictions is not sustainable, Greene said.<\/p>\n
TEAM has maintained its food portions but often runs out of fresh items, Chalker said. The pantry has used ministry donations to buy more food as demand rises.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the long term, we can\u2019t continue buying food because we won\u2019t have the money,\u201d Chalker said.<\/p>\n
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Mission Bells Food Pantry and West Houston Assistance Ministries also are trying to maintain their portions and food quality, according to Mission Bells Director Vas Kenyen and WHAM interim CEO Sonya Scott.<\/p>\n
Kenyen said grants from organizations such as the George Foundation have helped support Mission Bells. Scott said WHAM hopes donors and community partners will help it meet the increased demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a me issue, you issue,\u201d Scott said. \u201cIt\u2019s a community issue, and the community will need to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n
How could federal cost shifts affect SNAP in Texas?<\/p>\n
Beginning Oct. 1, 2027, federal law generally will require states with SNAP payment error rates of at least 6% to pay 5% to 15% of benefit costs. The change will shift part of the program\u2019s cost from the federal government to states.<\/p>\n
Texas had the lowest error rate among the six most populous states in fiscal 2025. Its rate was 9.34%, below the national average of 10.62%.<\/p>\n
The rate measures the accuracy of eligibility and benefit decisions, including overpayments and underpayments. It does not measure fraud.<\/p>\n
Errors can result from client mistakes, which officials say account for 30% to 40% of payment errors, or changes in a recipient\u2019s circumstances after an accurate eligibility decision, Texas Health and Human Services Commission press officer Jennifer Ruffcorn said.<\/p>\n
The law also will reduce the federal government\u2019s share of SNAP administrative costs from 50% to 25%, creating another expense for states beginning in fiscal 2027.<\/p>\n
The commission is making \u201ctargeted improvements across the eligibility system\u201d to reduce its error rate, Ruffcorn wrote in an email. Those efforts include expanding case reviews, strengthening staff oversight and using third-party data and additional quality controls.<\/p>\n
If Texas\u2019 error rate remains above 6%, the state could owe between $1.7 billion and $2.1 billion during the 2028-29 budget cycle, commission officials told the Senate Finance Committee at a July 28 hearing.<\/p>\n
Greene said lawmakers could respond to the added cost by tightening eligibility further.<\/p>\n
Craig Gundersen, a Baylor University professor who studies food insecurity, said he does not expect Texas to make major changes despite the higher costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cStates will have to make some other decisions,\u201d Gundersen said. \u201cThey can cut back on funding for other programs, or they can increase taxes. There\u2019s many different ways they can do this to pay for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several Democratic U.S. senators have called for a two-year delay in the cost shift. A farm bill proposed by Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John\u00a0Boozman would delay it by one year.<\/p>\n
Greene said the Houston Food Bank is discussing the changes with state lawmakers and members of Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston-area SNAP enrollment fell 18% over the past year, dropping to the lowest level in available state data…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-398660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}