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Food stamp
participation has seen an encouraging decrease, but lagging economic
growth leaves Illinois ranked highest among neighboring states in SNAP
enrollment.
Illinois Policy Institute/
Joe Barnas
Food stamp participation has seen an
encouraging decrease, but lagging economic growth leaves Illinois ranked
highest among neighboring states in SNAP enrollment.
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 For far too many families across Illinois, this year’s
Thanksgiving dinner will still be limited to whatever they are able to purchase
using a state-issued Link card.
Nearly 1.8 million Illinoisans are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program, or SNAP, according to preliminary figures for July from the
United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA. That’s 13.8 percent of the
population, a higher share than in any neighboring state. Benefits per person
are about $130 per month.
On the household level, Illinois is seeing a decline in
food-stamp enrollment year over year.
More than 892,000 Illinois households were receiving benefits through SNAP as of
August 2018, the most recent data available from the Illinois Department of
Human Services. This represents an 8-percent decrease from the same time in
2017, falling from nearly 969,500 enrolled households in August 2017.
However, SNAP enrollment numbers are less encouraging when viewed back to 2010
– the period immediately following the end of the Great Recession.
Illinois’ weak economic recovery
A troubling indication of Illinois’ post-recession recovery is that more
residents are now enrolled in SNAP than in August 2010. In terms of individual
SNAP enrollment, Illinois has seen a 2.3-percent increase.
Neighboring states such as Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan have experienced
significant declines in SNAP dependence during the same time period.
Work requirements
In September, the USDA warned Illinois that it was over-issuing federal food
assistance to individuals who did not qualify for benefits, risking hefty fines.
States opted to waive these work requirements in the wake of the Great
Recession. Under federal law, able-bodied adults ages 18-49 without dependents
must work 20 hours per week in order to qualify for benefits. If this
requirement is not met, eligibility for food assistance is limited to three
months during a three-year period.
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By October 2016 the work requirement largely
returned, with 42 states enforcing some level of work. Illinois
remained one of the eight to continue waiving the requirement. Among
Illinois’ neighbors, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana and Missouri do not
waive work requirements. Michigan and Kentucky have partial waivers.
Illinois was one of six states to secure a statewide work
requirement waiver for the first quarter of fiscal year 2018, as it
has done for the past 20 years. The state has since been unable to
meet the conditions the USDA stipulates for statewide work waivers,
and is currently under waivers for parts of the state.
Illinois’ comeback
Lawmakers in Springfield need to take action on policies that
promote economic growth and job creation in order to organically
reduce reliance on public assistance. Continuous tax hikes have
battered Illinois’ economy, making opportunities scarce compared to
the rest of the nation.
Possible reforms include a spending cap that is tied to growth of
taxpayer incomes and property tax relief that would free up precious
dollars in family budgets.
But to make real property tax relief possible, lawmakers need to
take pension reform seriously and the General Assembly must come to
terms with the reality of the state’s unsustainable public worker
pension system. A good first step would be to end legislative
pensions, followed by moving all future state workers to a
401(k)-style alternative – which has been proven successful for
thousands of state university workers.
Springfield must overcome its dependence on tax hikes and bloated
budgets so that it may bring prosperity and economic growth back to
Illinois.
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