Older Chicagoans at high risk of losing SNAP food assistance as new work rules kick in

Ernie Uribe has spent the past weeks hauling cans of soup and sweeping the floor of the food pantry at the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago in Woodlawn.

Uribe, 60, is trying to meet expanded work rules for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides him with $252 a month to buy groceries. But the hours might not be enough. He's volunteering while spending about two nights a week helping care for his 91-year-old mother, who needs around-the-clock assistance.

“So, at the same time I’m on that ... I had to look for 80 hours,” of work or volunteering a month to meet the new rules, says Uribe, who lives in Morgan Park.

Older adults in the Chicago area are at risk of losing their SNAP benefits after work requirements were expanded to include 55- to 64-year-olds as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax overhaul law passed last year. In Chicago, only about 35% of households that included adults in this age group were working at least 20 hours per week, according to a Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ analysis of data from the U.S. Census 2024 American Community Survey.

The new requirements call for people to work or volunteer 80 hours a month, which translates to about four hours a day. The rules also were expanded to include veterans and parents whose youngest child is 14 years or older. If SNAP recipients don't meet the rules or get an exemption by May, they will begin losing their benefits.

Older people who have been out of the workforce might find it harder to compete for jobs, especially because of continuing ageism, advocates say. This group also often spends time looking after older and younger relatives, making it harder to meet the 80 hours each month. In response, community groups across Chicago are expanding volunteer opportunities. But they aren’t seeing the expected demand and are bracing for households to be pushed out of the program.

The Illinois Department of Human Services initially estimated that as many as 400,000 people statewide could lose their benefits. By late February, IDHS dropped that to fewer than 200,000 after determining that about half of those people were eligible for an exemption, including those who are physically or mentally unable to work. That’s nearly 12% of the 1.7 million people who receive SNAP benefits in Illinois.

The potential loss of benefits comes as the number of Illinois residents 60 or older and living in poverty grew by 7% from 2023 to 2024, according to Diane Slezak, the president of AgeOptions, an advocacy group that also creates programs for elders.

“As we see this population growing, you want more healthy years,” Slezak said. “You don’t want to add sick and chronically ill years to your life.”

Republicans have said the expanded rules are meant to get more people to work and to reduce what they called abuse of the program.

But Chris Smith, who runs the food pantry for the Live Your Dreams Foundation on the Far South Side, said the elders he sees are in need and integral to helping feed families.

“You’re not going to see a 60-something-year-old person abusing SNAP benefits,” Smith said. “They literally are trying to make it stretch.”

Smith said he often hears from older people looking for specific items for a grandchild at their pantry.

“They’re still the cornerstone of our community," he said. "They really are the people that’s holding everything together."

Push for volunteer hours

In the basement of a Lincoln Park church, Care For Friends served a hot spaghetti lunch to more than two dozen people awaiting their chance to shop at the group’s food pantry. Hope Pavich, the group’s executive director, sees the organization as, “the last of the last of social safety nets.”

They’ve spent months trying to make sense of how the SNAP changes will affect those who come through their doors. They’ve started by creating a binder filled with volunteer opportunities within a mile of their locations. Pavich said they also are trying to think creatively of what counts as volunteering.

For example, their grocery boxes for families already include jokes for children. So Pavich thought of having a volunteer write out the jokes, which would allow someone to meet the requirement remotely.

“It moved our mission forward, and that’s something that is going to enhance our programming,” Pavich said. “So just kind of thinking outside of the box.”

Other small organizations are trying to find ways to bolster volunteer opportunities while trying to reduce the workload it could create. Nourishing Hope, which runs food pantries on the North Side and the West Side, plans to use their existing electronic records system to provide records for those who need proof of hours, according to Mitzi Baum, the group's chief executive officer.

On the South Side, another group is working with organizations in nearby Bridgeport, Brighton Park and McKinley Park to find volunteer opportunities, anticipating the challenges someone could face getting 80 hours a month at one place, said Andrea Guzmȧn, senior programs manager for Plant Chicago, which organizes markets and sells food boxes sourced from Chicago-area farmers.

And Meals on Wheels Chicago created a new program, Snap Together Volunteers, so older adults can volunteer at their monthly food pantry, which also will allow them to take home a bag of food, said Cory Morris, the organization's director of community impact.

“It’s a great way not only to get groceries and get your hours but to also socialize, just meet all these new requirements,” Morris said.

Each of these organizations also might be called on to prove SNAP recipients are actually volunteering. Recipients must show initial proof of hours and then again every six months. The state says they can log their hours on a “SNAP Activity Report” form or provide documentation from the organizations where they volunteer.

But fewer people so far are looking to volunteer than expected, raising concerns about what may lie ahead.

New rules creates confusion

Pavich worries that more people than anticipated will lose food assistance.

“I still think the people who are going to be affected still don’t know and have no idea,” Pavich said. “It’s really overwhelming the stuff that you hear all the time. It’s just easier to think, ‘That doesn’t affect me.’ And you still have the luxury of time because your SNAP card is still working.”

Meals on Wheels Chicago’s Snap Together Volunteers program also hasn’t seen strong interest, though Morris thinks that could change once more people realize they have to meet these requirements.

In anticipation of how many people might lose SNAP, groups are advocating for more state funding for programs like Meals on Wheels. The Greater Chicago Food Depository is pushing for a bill to provide onetime emergency assistance for households that lose SNAP support.

For Uribe, these new rules threaten to disrupt his newfound stability after he spent more than a year in a nursing home. A social worker helped him apply for housing and food assistance, and he is now living in Morgan Park while traveling to Hegewisch a few times a week to take care of his mother.

“That’s the one thing that I learned — you have to ask for help if you want help,” he said.

Uribe wants to comply with the new SNAP rules, but he’s finding the process confusing. He applied for an exemption due to a mental disability, but he’s unsure where that stands. He potentially might be exempt because of the care he provides his mother, who needs round-the-clock assistance.

“I’m really not digital-savvy,” Uribe said. “I don’t have a laptop. I do everything on my phone.”

To ensure that he keeps his benefits, his brother has been dropping him off at the food pantry at the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago to volunteer. He knows he definitely needs more hours.

Uribe and others who have applied for exemptions will not receive individual approval notices, to according the Illinois Department of Human Services, which says it would ask for additional information only “in the event that the exemption request is questionable and more information is needed to assess.”

Uribe wants lawmakers to think about stories like his when making decisions on programs like SNAP. He uses the money to buy basics like milk, cereal and eggs. He also visits a food pantry once a month.

If he loses his benefits, he said he will do what he can to get by.

“It runs out fast,” Uribe said. “I’m very fortunate, again, to receive the benefits. That’s a very big blessing that I’m getting.”

Contributing: Alden Loury