PHOENIX (AZFamily) — More than 400,000 Arizonans have lost food assistance since July — about half of them children — as the state implements sweeping changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) under new federal law, according to the latest state report.
Arizona’s drop is the largest in the country by a wide margin. Advocates say its driven by new eligibility requirements and an overwhelmed state system struggling to keep up with increased paperwork and processing demands.
Families describe “nightmare” trying to reapply
For Jonique Williams, a single mother of two, SNAP benefits were a critical lifeline as grocery costs climbed.
“It helps us eat,” Williams said.
But when her benefits stopped in December, she said it forced painful trade-offs.
“I won’t pay my light bill versus getting groceries. Because I’m going to get food,” she said.
Williams reapplied, but says navigating the process has been exhausting: conflicting notices, long waits, and difficulty reaching anyone for answers. She said she spent an entire day at a Department of Economic Security (DES) office in Chandler, only to leave without completing an interview.
“I sat there for 8 hours, to not even do an interview… just for them to tell me that they’re going to call me over the phone,” Williams said.
She says that call never came — and months later, her application is still unresolved.
Since July, roughly 450,000 people — about half of everyone previously enrolled — have been dropped from Arizona’s SNAP program, according the latest state report.
Joseph Palomino, Executive Director of the Arizona Center for Economic Progress, said the decline traces back to changes in federal rules under what’s being referred to as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” along with a shortage of state workers needed to process cases.
“This really does go to the root of the changes that were made,” Palomino said.
He said the numbers are still falling month to month.
From February to March, “we did see another decline,” Palomino said.
DES, which administers SNAP in Arizona, said in a statement that it is “currently navigating one of the most significant structural changes to federal nutrition assistance in decades.”
State response: hiring, overtime, and pressure to fix the backlog
The state has acknowledged problems with the transition. The Governor’s Office has invested more than $6 million to expand staffing and speed processing, including hiring about 1,000 additional workers and authorizing more overtime, according to DES. Many of those new hires are still coming onboard.
At the federal level, U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva is calling for some of these changes to be rolled back, warning Arizona may be a preview of what other states could face.
“That we have the largest drop in SNAP participants in Arizona I think that’s a foretelling of what’s going to be happening nationally,” Grijalva said.
Grijalva said lawmakers need to address the problem quickly to avoid shifting the burden to other agencies and community organizations trying to help struggling families.
For Williams, the delays mean more uncertainty — and more nights trying to stretch whatever is left.
“I make sure my kids eat,” she said. “If nobody else eat, my babies eat.”
She added, “This is a mommy thing, and mommy needs to fix it.”
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