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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Iowa City family among thousands bracing to lose food aid
New Iowa law requires families to meet asset test to receive SNAP benefits
Jun. 18, 2023 6:00 am, Updated: Jun. 27, 2023 10:44 am
IOWA CITY — Two-year-old Emerson Hilton smacks his ruby-stained lips and proudly holds out a juicy, bright-red strawberry of which he just took a big bite.
“I got a strawberry!” the toddler proclaims as he stands next to his mother, Cecilia Proffit, at the family’s dining room table.
At the table, 4-year-old Harper Hilton places slices of Colby Jack cheese on a whole-wheat tortilla she carefully folds in half and pats down for a quesadilla to be fried up by her father. Nearby in the kitchen, father Conor Hilton squeezes a lime over a bowl of shredded chicken and cheese.
They had just returned from picking up their weekly share of produce from Local Harvest CSA. The family uses their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — or SNAP — benefits to pay for a share in the community-supported agriculture operation that allows them to buy fresh, seasonal produce directly from local farmers.
The family also uses Double Up Food Bucks, a SNAP incentive program that matches purchases of fruits and vegetables at Iowa grocery stores, farmers markets and other locations. For every $1 spent on any fresh fruits and vegetables with a SNAP debit card, the family gets $1 in Double Up Food Bucks to spend for more fresh fruits and vegetables. As a result, the family pays for only about half of its CSA share, using about $500 for a year’s worth of vegetables, but the farmers still get the full $1,000
But the Iowa City family is among those bracing to be kicked off food assistance under a new bill passed by Iowa Republican lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds that adds new requirements for Iowans receiving public assistance benefits, including an asset test and regular checks to determine their eligibility for programs.
The new law limits households to a maximum of $15,000 in liquid assets and personal property in order to receive SNAP benefits. The applicant’s home, a first car of any value, a second car worth up to $10,000 and retirement accounts will not be included in that calculation. Recipients also cannot have a household income more than 160 percent of the federal poverty level. That equates to $23,328 for an individual or $48,000 for a family of four.
Individuals would have 10 days to respond to a written notice about discrepancies in their asset and income checks, or risk losing their assistance. Iowa previously required recipients to meet an income threshold, but did not restrict assets.
The new requirements apply to the SNAP food assistance program, the low-income health care program Medicaid, the children’s health care program known as CHIP and the Family Investment Program, or FIP, which provides cash assistance to needy families.
Why the change?
Supporters have said the changes will prevent fraud and abuse and ensure only those Iowans who are truly in need of government assistance are the ones benefiting. They also note other federal assistance programs, notably Medicaid, have an asset or “resource” limit and require asset verification.
Andres Reyes, a pastor at First Baptist Church in Perry, told lawmakers earlier this year the bill would “reignite a culture of personal accountability" and force people to become self-sufficient, improving society.
“Holding others accountable creates checks and balances for restraining assistance from those who are milking the system and adding nothing to it, while rewarding those working to build it,” Reyes said during a legislative hearing. “Holding others accountable produces equability.”
Dozens of Iowa organizations registered in opposition to the bill — including nurses, pediatricians, social workers and child and disability advocates — argue the measure will raise barriers for low-income Iowans to qualify for food and health care assistance and result in thousands of Iowans being taken off Medicaid and food assistance.
Iowa food banks and hunger assistance programs say Iowans already have difficulties accessing government food assistance, with SNAP participation at a 14-year low, while food banks and pantries are reporting record-high numbers of Iowans seeking help.
‘A terrible thing to do to parents’
Proffit’s family is among the more than 268,000 Iowans receiving SNAP benefits.
The family, she said, previously has had to ration milk to keep from running out after a pandemic-era policy that allowed Iowa households to receive the maximum allotment of SNAP benefits ended April 2022, shortly after Reynolds rescinded the state’s public health emergency proclamation.
It meant a loss of about $250 a month when the policy ended. The reduction came as inflation drove food costs higher, making it more difficult to stretch the payments her family continues to receive, Proffit said.
She said her family of four now receives less than $300 a month, as she’s picked up some work.
Her husband, Conor Hilton, 32, is a graduate student at the University of Iowa, where he is paid $20,000 a year to teach classes while he finishes his Ph.D. program in English. His take-home pay is about $2,000 a month.
Proffit, 31, works part-time from home because of the cost of child care makes it financially untenable for her to work full time and pay for child care. She said she earns about $1,000 a month working freelance in marketing.
The family, which moved to Iowa in 2019 so Hilton could go to school, has one car and pays more than $1,400 a month for rent. They are on Medicaid and receive benefits through the Women, Infants and Children program.
They also received $300 a month for their daughter under an expansion of the federal child tax credit that has since ended. They also received the credit on their tax refund for their son, who was born during the pandemic.
Proffit said the family used that money, along with money from federal stimulus checks, to build a safety net. She said the family has squirreled away $10,000 to $15,000 in savings to help put toward purchasing a home, retirement and college savings.
“Which hasn’t been a problem until now,” Proffit said of the new law. “I’m pretty sure when it takes effect we will lose benefits.”
Rather than lift Iowans out of poverty, Proffit said, the new law makes it harder for families like hers to get ahead and become self-sufficient, by penalizing Iowa households for having modest savings or more than one reliable vehicle.
"And it’s all those things that would help you get out of poverty now make it worse,“ Proffit said. ”You end up draining you savings account to go back on SNAP, and (are) now in a more vulnerable position than when you started.“
The family also receive assistance to help pay their heating bills, but that is based on SNAP eligibility.
“We’ve got little kids, not a lot of money and a pretty uncertain future,” Proffit said. “Knowing that, no matter what, our kids would not be hungry has been just enormously comforting. … It’s a terrible thing to do to parents and anyone to make them choose between heating and food, or rent.”
Because of SNAP, she said her children “have no idea they live in poverty.”
“They’ve never had to skip a meal because we ran out of food for the month,“ Proffit said. ”And, hopefully, that continues. … There’s lots of things you worry about in poverty. And it’s been nice not to have food be one of them."
Even if there is some fraud and abuse of SNAP benefits, Proffit said feels it’s a better use to tax dollars “to be more inclusive” than risk “pushing vulnerable people off of the program.”
“I can’t think of a better way to use our tax dollars than to make sure everyone in our community is fed and make the food choices that are best for their families,” she said.
An analysis by the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency projected that 1 percent of Iowans eligible for assistance will have their benefits canceled due to discrepancies in enrollment. That equates to 8,000 Medicaid recipients, 2,800 SNAP recipients, 600 CHIP recipients and 100 FIP recipients, according to the agency.
Critics, too, note cases of Medicaid and SNAP fraud are infrequent: 195 out of 278,800 SNAP recipients were disqualified for fraud during the 2022 state budget year, according to a state report. There were 235 open fraud cases in the state’s Medicaid program, which has more than 886,000 people enrolled, according to the report.
‘We want people to reach self-sufficiency’
Drew Klein, state director for the Iowa chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative issue advocacy organization, argued $15,000 in savings should be enough to move any family off of public assistance.
The group was one of three organizations registered in support of the new law, along with Iowans for Tax Relief and Opportunity Solutions Project.
“We need to balance that we are taking care of Iowans who truly need it and taxpayers who are ultimately on the hook, whether that’s state or federal dollars,” Klein told The Gazette. “Obviously, we want people to reach self-sufficiency and move off of welfare programs. That’s the goal. … But at what point do we say this person has made it and worked their way out of the system?”
Klein said $15,000 in assets provides households with a rainy-day fund and money for a down payment on a house.
“Those are solid indicators somebody is moving out of poverty … to a point where they stand on their own two feet,” he said. “If it’s not $15,000, how much should it be? The broader concern is whether these are individuals who want to be self-sufficient and … whether or not it is fair to expect self-sufficiency out of people at some level.”
Lawmakers should ‘visit their local food pantry’
Critics argue there already is a robust process in place for identity and income verification when applying for assistance in Iowa.
By instituting redundant eligibility verification requirements, John Boller, executive director of the Coralville Community Food Pantry, worries the new law will snare people who are eligible but struggle to manage required paperwork because of frequent moves, limited internet access or language barriers.
“I would urge all legislators to visit their local food pantry and talk directly with the people experiencing food insecurity,” Boller said. “Until they have taken the time to listen to the challenges facing their constituents and actually learn what’s at stake, they have no right to actively take food away from Iowans.”
The Iowa Farmers Union — which was registered opposed to the bill — says farmers in rural communities receive a positive economic benefit from a robust SNAP program.
“For every dollar spent in SNAP, we estimate that there’s $1.50 to $1.80 in economic activity up and down the food chain,” farmers union President Aaron Lehman said during a news conference in the Iowa Capitol rotunda earlier this year as lawmakers were considering passing the new law.
Carmen Black, lead farmer and owner of Local Harvest CSA, said the cooperative of farmers feeds about 200 local families. The CSA — which has a farm in Solon that grows fresh, local vegetables for Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, North Liberty and Solon residents — also partners with other farmers and companies to provide the option for shareholders to buy shares of eggs, homemade bread, meat, flowers and more.
While only a small portion of sales are supported by Iowans utilizing food assistance programs, Black said she is working on increasing awareness of the CSA’s acceptance of SNAP benefits to help support local farmers and food-insecure Iowans.
She said workers on her farm have used SNAP for many years.
“Fewer people using SNAP will not only affect my business, but the Iowa farmers I partner with,” Black said. “The more important thing is it is reducing access to local, healthy foods as well.”
When do the changes take effect?
The legislation calls for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to begin implementing provisions of the new law incrementally, beginning July 1, with full implementation no later than July 1, 2025.
“These changes require federal approval and HHS is actively working with our federal partners to implement the new public assistance law,” a DHHS spokesperson said. “Internally, we’ve begun IT system and process updates to ensure we meet legislative implementation deadlines.”
As a result, Iowans who rely on SNAP or Medicaid won’t see any immediate changes to their eligibility, according to the department.
“As with any changes to our assistance programs, we will communicate well in advance with recipients to prepare them for any impact the changes may have on their families,” the spokesperson said.
Federal rules allow states to establish an asset limit for SNAP via broad-based categorical eligibility.
States may also contract with a vendor to perform real-time eligibility cross-checks from a host of data sources on households enrolled in public assistance programs.
A spokesperson for federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services it “will continue to work with states to make it easier, not harder, for people to get and keep their health care coverage.”
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
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