More than 65,000 San Diegans are set to lose access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, after the passage of the Republican budget reconciliation bill in early July.
The federal legislation limits SNAP eligibility criteria — most significantly, refugees and asylees who are lawfully present in the country will no longer be able to access SNAP benefits. Other immigrant groups are also excluded, including victims of trafficking, domestic violence as well as individuals granted humanitarian parole for a period of at least one year.
“We have a pretty large refugee community here in San Diego,” said San Diego Hunger Coalition’s Community Impact Manager Anae Evangelista. “A lot of people come here needing help, and they’re all going to lose access to those benefits.”
The reconciliation bill also strips Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents, or ABAWDs, in California of the ability to receive SNAP benefits. Individuals who are considered ABAWDS, under previous federal legislation, were limited to 3 months of CalFresh benefits every 3 years.
But California had received a state-wide waiver to exempt themselves from the 3-month limitation through January 31st, 2026 — a waiver that the reconciliation bill revokes.
“It’s going to make it harder for families who have children,” Evangelista said. “Finding child care is not easy. It’s already really expensive.”
Although San Diego food banks and community-based organizations can work to temporarily alleviate the shortfall caused by cuts to SNAP, the California Association of Food Banks has warned that such groups cannot serve as a replacement for federal benefits.
Specifically, for every one meal distributed by food banks, SNAP provides nine.
Shifting the burden of financing food assistance from the federal government to the state government will also prove challenging as California faces a multi-billion dollar budget deficit.
And the effects extend beyond eligibility changes — recent upticks in immigration enforcement have deterred individuals from receiving food assistance, both through SNAP and food banks. One San Diego Hunger Coalition partner reported clients cancelling benefits out of fear that their SNAP enrollment information would be used by the federal government for immigration purposes.
“There was a chilling effect (on SNAP benefits) after the first Trump administration, and I think now this will only make it so much worse,” said San Diego Hunger Coalition’s Research Manager Joseph Kendrick. “We spent a lot of time over the last few years making people feel safer about applying for benefits after the first (administration) and now that effort seems to be starting back to ground zero.”
Kendrick noted that there are also currently 180,000 San Diegans that are eligible for CalFresh and not enrolled, amounting to a loss of over 3 million meals per month. Combined with the 67,000 individuals that now will not qualify for SNAP benefits, Kendrick estimated about a 7 million meal deficit, which amounts to over $12 million in SNAP benefits lost for individuals in San Diego County.
Studies show that every dollar issued in CalFresh results in a $1.79 multiplier in the local economy: for San Diego, this means $22 million lost, according to Kendrick.
It’s currently unclear when the reconciliation bill’s budget changes will take effect, leaving many individuals in limbo about their food assistance and nutrition security. More than one in four San Diegans are nutrition insecure, according to data from the San Diego Hunger Coalition.
“There’s been rising food insecurity, where people need food systems to rely on,” Evangelista said. “But these are the biggest cuts that I’ve seen in my time working at the Coalition and helping people get benefits. People rely on SNAP to feed their families, to feed their children, and these cuts are going to make it so much harder for them.”
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