The Trump administration’s revisions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) mean that most Kentucky veterans will need to prove they are working, seeking work, or volunteering to keep their benefits next year.
Many veterans in the state face homelessness, unstable housing, financial struggles, and mental health challenges, making compliance with these new rules particularly difficult.
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Jessica Klein, policy associate with the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, noted that even veterans without these challenges struggle with the paperwork and red tape involved in documenting work hours. She said:
“When people have to do this additional paperwork on a monthly basis, what that does is really make it harder to keep those benefits over time.”
To continue receiving SNAP assistance beyond three months, recipients must show 80 hours of work or participation in job training each month.
A 2021 study by the Military Family Advisory Network found that one in five military and veteran families experience food insecurity. Nationwide, over one million low-income veterans rely on SNAP to feed their households.
Kentucky has previously requested waivers for work requirements in counties with high unemployment or insufficient jobs, but Klein explained that many of these areas may now be required to prove residents are working.
“The state is going to lose some of the waivers we have for economically distressed areas. Previously, 117 of our counties were eligible for that waiver,” Klein said.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that around three million people nationwide could be dropped from SNAP due to the new work requirements.
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