This story originally published in the Detroit Free Press.
More than 167,000 Michiganders — including more than 53,000 children — fell off of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since last summer, in large part, policy experts say, because of new work rules and more red tape.
In June 2025, before President Donald Trump signed his sweeping "One Big Beautiful Bill" into law, about 1.4 million people were enrolled in SNAP. As of August of this year, Michigan saw a nearly 12% drop in enrollment. The policy shift restricted access to the longtime program meant to help tens of millions of low-income Americans afford nutritious food.
Participation in SNAP fell dramatically in recent months across the nation.
Michigan's drop is likely related to new SNAP rules, including work requirements. Those changes have created confusion, paperwork and red tape, gumming up the administrative process and leading people to see benefit reductions or fall off the program altogether, policy experts told the Free Press. Michigan is also responsible for spending more on the program — a move that will cost the state tens of millions of dollars.
"What we are seeing are people that are dropping out because they don't fully understand or they miss the communication around what their new responsibilities are to obtain or keep their SNAP benefits," said Erin Frisch, senior deputy director for the economic stability administration at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS).
The impact of the new rules comes at a time when the cost of groceries is going up, and organizations that address food insecurity are stretched. Frisch said she's concerned.
"I don't believe that the folks who are no longer receiving the benefits are suddenly no longer in need of SNAP benefits," she told the Free Press. "Folks are going to go to the food banks, to churches, wherever they might be able to go, to make up the difference and there's just no way that all those community organizations will ever make up the difference from what the food assistance program provides."
Big changes hit SNAP
At Fish & Loaves, a grocery store-style food pantry in Taylor, Lisa McCracken said she's seen her benefits drop in recent months, even as costs for food, gas and housing increase and wages can't keep up.
"It is so hard to make it nowadays," said the 53-year-old Taylor resident.
Her benefits have gone from $293 — when she had no income coming in — to about $196 and now $180 a month, she said.
Even when she was working 16 hour shifts, it was hard to make ends meet. McCracken, who worked as a registered provider, was injured on the job and broke her hip and herniated some disks. Now, she receives social security disability benefits and isn't working. Those payments cover her housing and DTE bills.
McCracken said she's not exactly sure why her SNAP benefits went down, but learned recently that she must get a certified letter from her doctor, work 20 hours or go to school. For her, working or going to school is not feasible since she just had surgery and has a knee replacement coming up. She carefully budgets her remaining SNAP benefits and food from Fish & Loaves lasts her a few weeks.
The food pantry has long been a hub for community service, said CEO Stephanie McNees. These days, Fish & Loaves regularly gets calls from people asking to fulfill their work requirements at the pantry, she said.
Michigan began making changes to SNAP last fall after Trump's signature tax bill passed and was signed into law.
The law widened the pool of people who must meet requirements by working or volunteering. Previously, those over 54 or with a child under 18 did not have to meet the work requirements. The program now requires able bodied adults, between 18 to 64 years old, without dependents under 14 to work or volunteer to get their benefits.
There's a three month limit every three years on the benefits unless participants can show they've been working, volunteering or are in a training program for at least 80 hours a month.
The policy also removed exceptions for people who are experiencing homelessness, veterans and people 24 years old and younger who have aged out of foster care. Fifteen counties and six cities, including Detroit, are exempt from the work requirements because of their high unemployment rates. Also part of the bill: refugees and people granted asylum are no longer eligible for SNAP.
Several benefits and policy experts said the new rules, paperwork and other bureaucratic hurdles are behind why SNAP enrollment has gone down in Michigan.
The federal changes make it more challenging for residents to access SNAP, said Jasmine Carson, executive director for empowerment and integration at the Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, a nonprofit that helps people apply for benefits.
"Either the process is becoming too challenging or the requirements are not realistic for our families," Carson said.
About 1.2 million Michiganders receive SNAP benefits. The drop in program participation is not part of the normal ebb and flow.
"Families are not dropping off of SNAP because they are better off financially," said Julie Cassidy, senior policy analyst with the Michigan League for Public Policy. "That need is still there and it is growing."
Cassidy points to Michigan’s unemployment rate, which has remained steady at about 5%, while SNAP enrollment has declined.
"That suggests to me that it's not improved employment opportunities or increased wages that are driving this large decline. It is because of the confusion, the added paperwork burden, the added administrative burden that is responsible for a lot of this," Cassidy said.
The decline in SNAP enrollment comes at a time when food and gas prices are high, said Jennifer Garner, a registered dietitian and an associate professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health. It'll have a ripple effect.
"Food insecurity is more greatly associated with poor health outcomes than even poverty alone," Garner said. "We know that the specific stress of not having enough food and having uncertainty around food is stressful in a particular way that has measurable and pretty quick impacts on both the psychological and physical health of our community."
SNAP helps to reduce hunger, lifts people out of poverty and reduces reliance on other public assistance, said Karley Abramson, research associate for the Citizens Research Council of Michigan.
"Michigan will be bearing the brunt of the cost, in both human and economic value, without really any benefit," Abramson said.
Bureaucratic red tape 'mucking up' SNAP system
The federal policy change also shifts a bigger share of SNAP’s administrative costs to states and the Trump administration is penalizing states for payment errors.
Previously, the federal government and the state went 50-50 on administrative costs. As of Oct. 1, Michigan will need to pay 75% of those costs. That's expected to cost the state $95 million annually.
On top of that, the state could pay up to 15% of benefit costs based on what's known as the SNAP payment error rate — how accurately a state determines eligibility and amounts. The federal government used to pay 100% of those costs.
The higher the error rate for the state, the more it must pay. States with an error rate under 6% get full federal funding. Michigan's 2024 fiscal year error rate was 9.5%. If the error rate doesn't go down, the state could be on the hook for anywhere between $320 million to $481 million a year.
MDHHS has been working to ensure that payments are issued as accurately as possible, Frisch said.
"There is a ripple effect that can also contribute to why more people are not getting their SNAP benefits anymore or are getting reduced amounts, because we are correcting and preventing over-issuance errors at a much higher rate than we have before. And so, while most folks may not connect those dots, they should be connected," she said, adding that focusing on accuracy will inevitably limit access.
MDHHS said most errors — payments under or over the benefits a person is supposed to get — are unintentional and may happen because the state miscalculates a household's expenses or the client doesn't report a change in their income.
In an effort to reduce the error rate the state is "clamping down" and asking for more documentation and following up with people more often, said Kate Bauer, professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health and the director of the Institute for Food, Nutrition, and Health Policy.
"I understand why the state is doing it. They want to stop making errors so they can reduce the state burden … but the effect that it's having is that it's mucking up the system," she said. "Not only can people not get all the documentation they need, now our case workers are doing so much more work to try to get everything documented, that they can't handle nearly the number of cases that they used to."
The result? People aren't getting calls back. Their questions are going unanswered, she said.
"If they happen to submit a wrong form, they may never hear about it until they're ultimately kicked off the program," Bauer said.
For help understanding the new SNAP rules, call the Food Bank Council of Michigan's Food and Other Resources (F.O.R.) Helpline at 888-544-8773, available 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
To find area food pantries and other resources, go to www.fbcmich.org/food-bank-network; pantrynet.org; www.forgottenharvest.org/find-food, or call the Michigan 211 line.
