Minnesota SNAP rolls increased by $36 million in COVID-19 pandemic

[Valin]

Alpha News

In May 2020, the program paid $76.6 million for 423,633 recipients. A year prior, that cost $42 million for 384,267 recipients – $34 million less.

Scott McCallen

August 10, 2020

Many of the costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic aren’t easily visible – nursing home residents’ deaths, for example, as well as the increasing number of opioid overdoses, and the businesses going bankrupt due to combined government-mandated restrictions and reduced consumer demand.

About 854,600 people have filed unemployment claims since March after Minnesota’s first case of COVID-19, pushing many people onto federally bankrolled food assistance programs, spiking costs by over $30 million.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the federal program that the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) administers to help supplement the nutrition needs of people with low incomes.

SNAP eligibility depends on a household’s income and size.

(Snip)