A trickle of funds from the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program started to make its way Friday to the prepaid cards of recipients in Chicago as the government shutdown continues, according to food pantries.
In East Garfield Park, some people who receive SNAP benefits told workers at the Marillac St. Vincent Harvest Hub food pantry the partial funds were loaded onto their accounts as of Friday, said Bob Joynt, the community food source specialist.
One person said they received only about 40% of what they typically get each month.
“The unpredictability really hurts people,” said Holly Yacoumakis, lead community food source specialist at Marillac St. Vincent. “It’s unfair, and they know it’s unfair. It makes it difficult to plan. These are people who, to survive, spend a lot of time planning how they are going to spend what they have.”
The Greater Chicago Food Depository also heard from its partners that recipients started to receive partial benefits, but they along with many others were still waiting to see if the White House would fully fund the program for November.
Late Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump’s administration continued its challenge of a court order that required it to fully, rather than partially, fund SNAP benefits. An appeals court late Friday left in place that order to fully fund SNAP in November, for now. After the appeals decision, the Trump administration quickly asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its request, the Associated Press reported.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed a brief, along with a coalition of states, opposing Trump’s attempts not to fully fund the food assistance program for November during the government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history.
“A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to provide full SNAP benefits, but still the president is continuing down a path of cruelty that will unlawfully impede tens of millions of families across the country from accessing the food they deserve,” Raoul said in a statement.
The Illinois Department of Human Services, which administers SNAP, said at most, households across the state will receive 65% of their normal monthly benefits, but some may not receive anything at all.
Recipients who typically receive food assistance in the first six days of the month should have started receiving the payments Friday or will receive it in the next few days, according to state officials. People who typically have their cards loaded after the seventh day of the month should receive a partial payment on their regular day.
Nearly 2 million people in Illinois receive SNAP benefits each month. Typically, a family of three cannot have a gross monthly income of more than $3,551 to receive SNAP assistance. The average monthly benefit is about $370.
In Chicago, most SNAP recipients live on the West Side, including the Austin, North Lawndale, East Garfield Park and West Garfield Park neighborhoods, according to U.S. Census data analyzed by WBEZ and the Sun-Times.
Since last week, the Marillac St. Vincent Harvest Hub has seen more people visiting the food pantry. Joynt said the pantry is running low on meats, and that leaves people with fewer options.