Mar 7, 2023
As Emergency Aid Ends, More Americans on SNAP Support Are Losing Their Homes
, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- More Americans receiving government food assistance said they lost their homes last month, according to a new survey by software firm Propel Inc., just as an emergency benefit expires for tens of millions of people.
Some 9.2% of respondents in Propel’s monthly online survey said they’d suffered eviction or foreclosure in February, up from 8.5% in January and the highest number in data going back to 2020, according to the findings published Tuesday. The share of respondents saying they’d stayed in shelters also rose to a record high of 6%. More people reported eating less, visiting food pantries and running out of food compared with the previous month.
The survey highlights growing financial insecurity among the lowest-income Americans, as inflation — especially for food staples — raises the basic cost of living, even though wages have also increased.
Propel’s data is based on about 4,000 responses to a survey among users of its Providers app, which has some 5 million members. They are all holders of an electronic benefits card that’s used to receive payments under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
February also marked the end of the federal government’s boost to the food program, which has provided extra funds to states since the start of the pandemic when millions of workers lost their jobs. In the 32 states where the extra allotment is ending, households will receive at least $95 less each month, with losses for some of them reaching as much as $250, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Read More: Americans Are Losing Key Food Subsidy as Prices Get Higher
The emergency benefits kept 4.2 million people out of poverty, according to Urban Institute data from the end of 2021.
Foreclosure rates have remained relatively low across the US since pandemic protections ended, though this year so far has seen a jump from 2022. There have been some 1.9 million evictions since March 2020, according to the Eviction Lab developed by Princeton University researchers, with numbers climbing after a federal moratorium ended in 2021.
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