SNAP

Recent federal proposals would add additional barriers to an already underused program, including efforts to require older adults to prove they’re engaging in work activities for a certain number of hours per week or risk losing SNAP after three months.

From creating a trailblazing initiative that trains bank employees to identify and report suspected financial exploitation, to shining the light on the detrimental health effects and high costs of social isolation, AARP’s Public Policy Institute kept a frenetic pace in 2018, underscoring its identity as a leading “think-and-do” tank. Throughout the year, PPI researched, crunched data and analyzed critical policy issues facing older adults and presented solutions and findings here.

As the U.S. population ages and SNAP faces the prospect of changes that could affect the future of the program, it becomes all the more important to examine the dynamics around this large segment of SNAP users. AARP Public Policy Institute’s recently released fact sheet takes a closer look at SNAP households with older adults.

“Without SNAP, I don’t know how I’d be able to afford to eat.”

En español | Food insecurity is a significant public health problem for older adults. In 2014, nearly 8 percent (3.47 million) of Americans age 65 and older were living in food insecure households, meaning they did not have balanced meals or enough to eat because they could not afford it. According to current estimates, the share of food-insecure older adults will increase 50 percent by 2025.

There is a renewed national debate over anti-poverty programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that millions of low-income Americans rely on. The House Agriculture Committee is currently leading an extensive review of SNAP. Recently, AARP President-Elect Eric Schneidewind testified before the Committee on SNAP’s importance to seniors and how it plays a key role in reducing health care costs. Click here to watch the video.

Carl Goldston is happy this Saturday morning. He is delivering food to Kuehner House, an affordable housing apartment complex for very-low-income seniors (age 60 and over) managed by the nonprofit SOME (So Others Might Eat) in Washington. It’s the holiday season, so there is extra excitement. And he gets to visit his three friends and former roommates, Greg, Fred and David.

Pearl Turner, 85, is excited on this clear, sunny, Saturday morning. Soon the lobby of the Annie B. Rose House, an apartment complex where she lives with residents who are older or have disabilities, will overflow with fresh kale, okra, bread, cantaloupe, berries and peaches, all donated by area farmers who sell produce at the Old Town Farmers’ Market in Alexandria, Va.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced this week a proposed program to improve access to groceries for homebound older Americans and people with disabilities who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the food stamp program. AARP spoke with Vilsack about the pilot program and food insecurity among older adults.

When President Obama signed the farm bill on Feb. 7, it meant sun and rain for food stamp recipients.