LANSING, Mich. — At the start of October, new requirements kicked in for states for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Changes well before then have already impacted recipients, however.
In Michigan, there are around 167,000 fewer SNAP recipients compared to last year and some are pointing the finger at the One Big Beautiful Bill, signed in July 2025.
Among the bill’s changes, states must pay more than the existing 50% of administrative costs.
“The federal covered the other half,” Julie Cassidy, a senior policy analyst at the Michigan League for Public Policy, said. “The federal government reduced its share to 25%, so that meant that the state had to come up with another $94 million, roughly.”
If SNAP error rates are above 6%, states must also pay more of the money going directly to families.
As Michigan’s rate sits north of 9%, Cassidy projects the state could end up paying $400 million next year.
“That makes it harder for the state to make sure that eligible families are getting the benefits that they should be getting,” she said.
While that increased burden could hurt SNAP in the future, experts, food banks and pantries are already sounding the alarm.
They’re warning stiffer work and eligibility requirements put in place by the bill are driving people off SNAP.
As of August, more than 1.2 million Michiganders benefitted from the program, a nearly 13% drop since the bill was signed.
“This is an extraordinarily large decline in SNAP enrollment in a relatively short period,” Cassidy said. “Our unemployment rate has not improved here in Michigan since [the bill] was enacted, so it doesn’t seem that jobs are any easier to come by.”
The White House has maintained only 28% of able-bodied adults on SNAP work.
“The One Big Beautiful Bill promotes work, responsibility, and restores SNAP to serve the truly needy,” a statement on its website read ahead of the bill’s signing. “The mission of the program has failed. SNAP was intended to be temporary help for those who encounter tough times—we are strengthening this program to serve those who need it most.”
Still, for those who are working, advocates point out that new paperwork could still make it hard for them to get SNAP.
The Food Bank Council of Michigan runs a hotline for those who want to sign up for the program, but are having difficulties.
They can no longer respond to every one each day, according to Executive Director Phil Knight.
‘We average 12 to 16 calls a day, now we’re 40 to 50,” he said. “It’s a little ironic, don’t you think, that the very program that’s designed to help people have access to the food they want and need is being adjusted, shall we say, and making it more difficult to retain those benefits and get on those benefits.”
Food banks and pantries across the state are reporting upticks in visitors, too.
Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes now serves between 800 and 900 people a day.
“There was about a 10% increase across the board,” the organization’s associate director, Greta Faworski, said. “Then even going into September, in September we tend to see a little bit of a dip. Kids are going back to school, there’s not that intense need for families to be having extra meals as it is in the summer, we did not see a decrease at all.”
The pantry was already seeing high numbers and the increase is putting a strain on them, especially as the price of food and transportation costs remain elevated.
The 2027 state budge does account for a chunk of expected costs, and there are efforts to reduce errors, but food banks and advocates are calling on congress to extend the deadline to meet the 6% threshold.
That way, organizations and recipients can avoid further impacts.
“Charity can never be scaled to replace a federal program,” Knight said.
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