As a result of the Trump Big Beautiful Bill, FPI estimates that 174,000 individuals in New York City are at immediate risk of losing their benefit. An additional 264,000 individuals are now subject to work requirements and at risk of benefits loss. In total, the benefits of 438,000 out of the 1.8 million New Yorkers currently receiving SNAP are at risk. Of these, 277,000 are children.
These cuts will lead to greater food insecurity and have a severe economic impact on neighborhoods with high concentrations of low-income households. The average monthly benefit is $232 per individual. Therefore, the loss of benefits to those at the most immediate risk will remove nearly $500 million from these neighborhoods each year. The impending disenrollment of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers is far very concerning. Older adults (aged 55 to 64) with no children and all adults under 65 with children 14-years old and older are now subject to SNAP work requirements. Unlike the funding cuts, these changes are effective immediately.
The Trump Big Beautiful Bill makes two changes to cut federal funding for SNAP. First, it requires states to share the costs of benefits for the first time—NYS will be liable for up to 15% of the cost of benefits. Second, the bill increases states’ share of administrative costs from 50% to 75%. These changes will shift up to $1.4 billion in new costs to New York State. Currently, New York City is only affected by administration cost shifting, which will cut federal funding to the city by about $100 million annually by fiscal year 2028. This is manageable, but the city’s lawmakers must be vigilant against the state shifting costs to localities. Lawmakers must also resist any state-level efforts to curb SNAP enrollment
This makes the city’s existing social services programs all the more important. Worryingly, spending for these programs has been significantly underbudgeted in recent years—the Office of Management and Budget has under estimated program costs by as much as $2 billion in the current fiscal year. This particularly affects public assistance and rental assistance. This under-budgeting raises the risk that these programs will be the first targets for budget cuts in the event that the city faces fiscal headwinds. As such, lawmakers must guard against any efforts by the administration to cut social service programs in the current year and ensure that future commitments are fully funded.
