Study finds food insufficiency increased with expiration of pandemic-era emergency allotments

Across the U.S., food insufficiency, defined as households not having enough food to eat, increased after pandemic-era Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) emergency allotments expired, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The study also found that the loss of emergency allotments, which provided SNAP participants up to $250 additional support per month, resulted in greater food pantry use and greater difficulty paying household expenses, as well as increased anxiety symptoms specifically among Black SNAP participants.

“Increased SNAP benefits during the pandemic—particularly emergency allotments—have been credited with preventing a national food insecurity crisis,” said corresponding author Rita Hamad, associate professor of social and behavioral sciences and director of the Social Policies for Health Equity Research (SPHERE) Center.

“Our study indicates that more generous SNAP benefits would continue to have a major positive impact for the 41 million families participating in the program.”

The findings are of immediate relevance to policymakers, as the Farm Bill, the legislation that funds SNAP, is currently being considered in Congress. The bill expired September 30, and funding will run out by the end of the year if Congress fails to act.

The study, “Food Insufficiency Increased After The Expiration Of COVID-19 Emergency Allotments For SNAP Benefits In 2023” published October 7 in Health Affairs, is the first to examine the impacts of emergency allotment expiration in the 35 states where they expired in March 2023, with the end of the national public health emergency declaration.

Between March 2020 and April 2021, Congress implemented a range of temporary benefits, including emergency allotments, to SNAP to help combat pandemic-related economic distress and food insecurity. With those allotments, SNAP participants saw their monthly support go up by between $95 and $250. Some states discontinued them as early as March 2021, but 35 states continued to provide them until March 2023.

The researchers used data from the U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey to examine the food, financial, and mental health statuses of more than 15,000 respondents.

They compared individuals who participated in SNAP to a control group of individuals who were eligible for the program based on their income but did not receive SNAP, looking at how food insufficiency changed after March 2023 among those living in the 35 states where the emergency allotments expired.

Between November 2022 and July 2023, different survey respondents were interviewed monthly about whether they or a member of their household had enough food to eat and whether they got free groceries from a food bank over the previous week. They also completed questionnaires on their mental health to measure symptoms of depression and anxiety; whether they were behind on rent/mortgage payments; and whether they experienced difficulty paying for household expenses over the previous week.

The study found that emergency allotment expiration led to an 8.4% increase in food insufficiency, a 2.1% increase in use of food pantries, and a 2.0% increase in difficulty paying expenses among SNAP participants. Additionally, when the researchers analyzed the data by racial group, they found that Black SNAP participants reported greater anxiety symptoms after the expiration of emergency allotments than white SNAP participants.

The researchers noted that before SNAP emergency allotments expired nationally, Congress permanently expanded SNAP benefits by about 21% as part of the updated Thrifty Food Plan.

“Many hypothesized that these 2021 updates to the Thrifty Food Plan, and the larger SNAP benefits that resulted, would be sufficient to protect most families, even when they lost their emergency allotments. Our findings suggest this is not the case,” said co-author Cindy Leung, assistant professor of public health nutrition.

This has real public health implications, the authors said, as food insecurity, a broader household condition that encompasses limited or uncertain food availability, rose nationwide to 13.5% of U.S. households in 2023.

“Strengthening SNAP should be an important priority for policymakers to ensure that all Americans have the ability to access and afford nutritious food,” Leung added.

Whitney Wells and Kaitlyn Jackson, both of the SPHERE Center, were co-authors.