If you receive food assistance through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, your monthly benefit could increase slightly this month, as part of an annual adjustment for inflation. The maximum benefit for an individual went up $8, while the maximum for a household of four went up $29.
But Oct. 1 also marks the beginning of new Trump administration policies that reduce the federal government’s investment in food assistance.
These policies, passed as part of the federal budget reconciliation bill in July 2025, accomplish that goal in two ways: by by putting more responsibility on people, including some parents and older adults, to meet and document their eligibility, and sending less money to states to help them run their programs.
Advocates predict these cuts could lead states to further restrict benefits, cut other programs, raise taxes to cover new costs or even opt out of the program in coming years.
Older adults and parents with teenagers must now meet work requirements.
Previously, people ages 18-54 who the government deemed physically capable of working had to prove they were working or volunteering for 80 hours a month to receive benefits. Now those requirements apply to people through age 64.
Parents with children under the age of 18 used to be exempt from these requirements, but now that exemption only is in place until the child turns 14.
Meanwhile, New Hampshire direct service providers are reporting growing rates of food insecurity.
Anne Hayes leads the Gather food pantry in Portsmouth. She said her group is serving 34% more people now than they were the same time last year.
“People are taking more food,” she said. “...So where people might have in the past taken a little bit less if they didn't feel like they needed it, they're clearly feeling like they need everything that they can get now.”
Despite this rising need, Hayes said Gather has seen a decrease in food donations.
“People are just more stretched than they have been in the past. So somebody who might have been able to have a little bit of extra to step up and help out probably doesn't right now,” she said.
Plus, cuts to the USDA’s Emergency Food Assistance Programs have meant the New Hampshire Food Bank, which distributes food to pantries like Gather across the state, has less resources to buy food and make up this donation deficit.
Hayes said she is worried about the situation worsening heading into winter, as seasonal fuel costs jump and program changes to Medicare and Medicaid squeeze low-income families and older adults even more.
New Hampshire is getting less funding from the federal government to run the program.
The federal government used to pay 50% of a state’s administrative expenses, leaving states responsible for the other half.
Now, states will have to fund 75% of those expenses, which will be around $4.4 million in New Hampshire this year, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
In coming years, this figure will be even higher because the state’s fiscal year begins in July, and the federal government fiscal year begins in October. Next year, the department estimates costs will be around $6 million and the year after that, nearly $7 million.
The department said it is making up the current federal funding shortfall by reallocating money within its operating budget.
But, the state could take on even more costs if it has to start paying for the benefits themselves. Those have typically been fully federally funded, but the Trump administration plans to require states to fund a portion of benefits if the state has an error rate of greater than 6%. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the policy will “curb SNAP waste.”
That new rule is slated to go into effect on Oct. 1, 2027, for most states.
According to USDA data from 2025, the average error rate across the country was nearly 11%, meaning most states will likely have to pay some portion of its benefits. New Hampshire’s error rate was 9% last year.
Laura Milliken, who leads the advocacy group New Hampshire Hunger Solution, said error rates “have nothing to do with fraud.”
“They are based on administrative error overpayments or underpayments,” she said. “... so [error rates are] not really a good measure of how a state is doing in terms of administering its program.”
The most recent draft of the 2026 Farm Bill passed by the Senate Agriculture Committee would push the implementation date until Oct 1. 2028, but Milliken said other parts of that bill, which is still being negotiated in Congress, could weaken SNAP further.
As New Hampshire looks towards the 2027 legislative session, Milliken is advocating for initiatives that would expand nutrition access across the state, like bolstering school meals and streamlining Medicaid enrollment so low-income people can access SNAP without additional paperwork.
“None of us does well when our community is hungry,” Milliken said. “It affects public health. It affects all of us.”
