New SNAP work rules leave unemployed Englewood man and thousands of others at risk
Kenny Robinson Sr. moves quickly Monday through the one-room food pantry inside Chosen Bethel Family Ministries in Englewood on the South Side.
He drops bags of spaghetti into more than a dozen cardboard boxes that will be distributed to the area's older adults to help feed them for about 10 days. On another table, Robinson and four other volunteers are also setting up for the afternoon pantry. He hauls boxes of pasta and canned beans from a neatly organized closet that he regularly stocks and volunteers have nicknamed “Kenny’s closet.”
Robinson, 61, of Englewood, started volunteering at the pantry about two years ago after he was standing in line to get food and noticed the church needed more help. The pantry supplements the $158 in monthly benefits he receives from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
But like thousands of others in Illinois and across the country, Robinson is at risk of losing those benefits soon because of expanded work rules that are part of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill approved by Congress last summer.
As of Feb. 1, people up to age 64 will have to work or volunteer at least 80 hours per month to remain eligible for food assistance. The work rules also expanded to include people who are homeless, veterans and parents of teens 14 and older.
For years, Robinson said he has had trouble finding steady employment because of the stigma that surrounds his past criminal conviction. He’s been trying to have it expunged.
“I’m willing to work but … what company’s gonna hire a 61-year-old guy and give me a chance to really work and earn my way?” Robinson asked. “And not look at my background and my record and hold that against me all the time.”
The Rev. Sandy Gillespie, an assistant pastor who runs the pantry, said they’ve tried to help people find jobs online but it’s difficult, especially for those who may not have the skills for today’s economy. The state’s unemployment rate is about 4.6%, slightly up from a month ago, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
Census data shows that 45% of people 25 years and older who live in Chicago households that receive SNAP benefits are working, according to the 2023 American Community Survey.
“You have some mobility issues, you’ve got a background, your job opportunities are slim and nonexistent,” Gillespie said. “So they’re terrified. They’re like, ‘well, what do we do?’ A lot of them are not physically able to volunteer somewhere for that amount of time.”
Community groups and SNAP recipient advocates have urged recipients to request an exemption by Feb. 1, when the new eligibility rules kick in. If a person doesn’t meet the requirements, they will lose their benefits after three months and will not be able to apply again for three years.
Reasons for an exemption include being pregnant, having a mental or physical condition that makes it difficult to maintain a job, or enrollment in a substance abuse treatment program, according to the Illinois Department of Human Services.
SNAP recipients in Illinois had been exempt from any work rules for at least several years because of the state’s unemployment rate, said Man-Yee Lee, director of communications for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. But Trump’s tax bill removed a waiver allowing states to drop the work requirement if their unemployment rate exceeded the national average.
“Trump’s bill came out of the blue, and it came so fast, I think that the state has been really scrambling trying to see how they’re going to enforce all this,” Lee said.
State officials have estimated that as many as 400,000 residents could lose SNAP benefits because of the new rules. About 100,000 people had filed exemptions as of earlier this month, according to the Illinois Department of Human Services.
As of Monday, Robinson had not filed an exemption, he said partly because he was unsure if he would qualify.
“It tells you basically who’s qualified to work and stuff like that,” he said, “but it [doesn’t] give you enough details about who’s exempt and the reasons why.”
Robinson said he lost hope last November when SNAP benefits were temporarily frozen amid a historic government shutdown. He wasn’t able to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Still, he’s hopeful amid this year’s uncertainty that his criminal record will get expunged and he’ll land a job soon.
“You [have] to find out your worth and try to find places that can really help you, and try to blend in with those places and donate some of your time,” Robinson said “The more you donate your time, you will feel better, and things will work out.”
Contributing: Alden Loury