Navigating the New Barriers to Access
In 2025, sweeping changes to public benefits programs brought the social safety net into the spotlight, raising urgent questions about access to essential support for millions of households. The passage of House Resolution 1 (HR-1), nicknamed “The One Big Beautiful Bill,” has already excluded 3.5 million people from accessing SNAP by introducing new administrative challenges. States will be mandated to pay a share of SNAP for the first time in our nation’s history if they’re unable to fix their “SNAP Error Rates,” or the rates at which the state agencies overpay, underpay, or make administrative errors at the same time they are facing a huge cut in funding for administrative support. The bill also introduced new administrative requirements for older adults, parents of teenagers, veterans, and unhoused people. Finally, the bill denies refugees and asylees the ability to get food assistance.
Non-Citizen Criteria Changes
People granted humanitarian protections (such as refugees, asylum seekers, and certain victims of human trafficking and domestic abuse) are no longer eligible for SNAP.
Increased State Costs
Starting in FY27, states must pay an additional 25% of SNAP administrative costs (increasing their portion to 75%), and starting in FY28, states will pay a portion of SNAP benefits for the first time based on their payment error rate.
Work Requirement Expansion
An estimated 3 million people (ages 55-64 and those with children ages 14-17) will be newly subjected to the Able-Bodied And Without Dependents (ABAWD) 20-hour-per-week work requirement, along with veterans and people experiencing homelessness.
These changes will have real and lasting impacts on those who rely on SNAP to feed their families, food banks and other organizations that will struggle to fill the hunger gap, and the states that will be paying out of pocket to fund the program.
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