NEW YORK — Food Bank For New York City, the largest hunger-relief organization serving all five boroughs, is calling on Congress to take two critical steps to protect food access for millions of vulnerable New Yorkers:
- Delay for two years a new federal law that requires states to pay a share of SNAP food benefits
- Fully fund The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), a federal program that brings tens of millions of meals from U.S. farmers and producers to New Yorkers every year.
“Congress has an opportunity to prevent a food access crisis before it happens,” said Leslie Gordon, President and CEO of Food Bank For NYC. “SNAP helps families buy the nutritious food they need, while TEFAP helps keep food banks like ours stocked. Weakening one while underfunding the other puts millions of New Yorkers at risk of food insecurity.”
This request comes as New York prepares to absorb significant new costs because of historic changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which were enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) budget (H.R. 1), and signed into law last year. These changes require states to share in the cost of SNAP benefits for the first time in the program’s history.
Beginning October 1, New York will be required to cover a larger share of SNAP’s administrative costs, a change expected to cost New York State approximately $168 million annually; an estimated $110 million in new costs for New York City each year.
Without Congressional action, even larger costs could follow.
In 2027, New York State could face more than $1.1 billion in new annual SNAP costs, with an estimated $700 million impact on New York City. Food Bank For NYC warns that these new costs could place significant strain on state and local budgets, creating challenges for programs that help families afford food and increasing pressure on food pantries and soup kitchens already working at capacity.
Under the new law, states with higher SNAP payment error rates will be responsible for covering a portion of SNAP benefit costs beginning in fall 2027. These payment error rates do not measure fraud. Instead, they reflect administrative mistakes that can occur when state agencies process large numbers of applications, renewals, and other complex program requirements.
Although New York State has made significant progress in reducing its payment error rate, it currently faces the highest cost-sharing requirement under the new law. Because New York has improved its error rate, it does not meet the benchmark for a two-year implementation delay available to other states.
Nearly 1.7 million people in New York City rely on SNAP support to help afford groceries. When families lose access to food assistance or see their benefits reduced, many turn to providers like Food Bank For NYC for help and programs like TEFAP become even more critical to helping food banks and pantries meet community needs.
Food Bank For NYC is the sole TEFAP provider in New York City and the nation’s largest TEFAP distributor. The program supplies tens of millions of pounds of food to hundreds of community food pantries and soup kitchens across the five boroughs, many of which are already serving record levels of need.
Food Bank For NYC is urging Congress to delay SNAP State cost-sharing requirements for two years and to fully fund TEFAP to help protect access to food while states prepare to implement the new law.
Tell Congress to protect SNAP and strengthen TEFA.
