Minnesota’s SNAP Step-up for Seniors Benefits Women
On the surface, food insecurity for seniors may not seem like a women’s issue. However, our research in collaboration with the Center on Women, Gender, & Public Policy at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School shows that for older women, food insecurity is a dimension of the poverty that affects women disproportionately.
Older women are a vital part of our state, contributing significantly to our economy and to their families. However, economic inequities over a lifetime follow older women into retirement, resulting in too many women living in poverty.
Overall, in Minnesota, about 71% of participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are women. Seventeen percent (17%) of Black women, 16% of Latinas, and 6.4% of white women over 50 years old in the U.S. reported not having enough food to eat in the last seven days.
This session at the Capitol, the Women’s Foundation is supporting SF1110 to increase the minimum SNAP benefit for all seniors. The current minimum benefit for a one-to-two-person household is only $23 per month. This bill would increase that minimum for seniors 60 plus to $50 per month.
The SNAP benefit is a lever that helps ensure no one in our state goes hungry or slides into poverty because of food costs. Additionally, WFM supports appropriating funds for SNAP outreach so that more Minnesotan’s can access the program to help meet basic needs. Last week, WFM testified to increase the minimum SNAP benefit for seniors and joined the Food Group coalition to support the testifiers on this bill.
What the Data Show
Women across the state will benefit from an increase in SNAP benefits for seniors. To begin with, Minnesota has more aging women than men. Women comprise 54% of the population of Minnesotans over 65 and 63% of those age 85 or older. According to the research, older women are more likely than men to be living in poverty. On average, older women in the U.S. receive approximately 80% of the retirement income that men receive, extending the gender pay gap into retirement.
Older women of color and older women with disabilities are disproportionately food insecure. Minnesota’s Black and Asian women, 65 and over, they’re more likely than men to be managing at least one disability, and older women with disabilities report high rates of food insecurity in the US.
Additionally, being food insecure also creates a health risk for this vulnerable senior population. The national coalition on aging cites effects such as lower nutrient intakes, higher risks of diabetes, congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, asthma, gum disease, Mental health issues and medication non-adherence when seniors may be forced to choose between medication and food.
Seniors are going hungry in our state, and the current monthly minimum is inadequate to meet the needs of seniors. More than 449,000 Minnesotans receive SNAP help every month with an average monthly benefit of $246 per person.
Path to Progress
The bill to increase the SNAP minimum benefit for seniors has gained bipartisan support and successfully passed its first hurdle by getting a hearing in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee last week. The next critical step is to obtain a hearing in the House Children and Families Committee. Advocates are diligently working to prioritize this bill in the current legislative session, as many older adults in our state face challenges in putting food on the table. Raising the current federal minimum SNAP benefit from $23 to $50 per month would help strengthen the safety net for some of the most vulnerable residents. Policy partners such as The Food Group, along with AARP, Second Harvest Heartland, and Advocates for Better Health, among others is committed to advancing this vital legislation at the Capitol in the coming months.
This year, the SNAP seniors bill joins multiple food security bills being advocated for at the Capitol, highlighting the widespread impact of this issue. The bills HF 1098, HF 1112, HF 1148 and SF 1858 would allocate funds for various food initiatives including food shelves, food banks, and food delivery.
If you or someone in your life has been affected by food insecurity or you just care about ensuring Minnesotans are fed, you can join food advocates for Hunger Day on the Hill on March 11 to advocate for bills to end hunger in Minnesota, including the Senior SNAP bill.
What You Can Do
- Contact your legislators and tell to increase the SNAP benefit for seniors and invest in the SNAP Outreach program
- Read the bills: SF1110 and SNAP Outreach
- Visit our policy partners, The Food Group/Hunger Solutions and Second Harvest Heartland to learn more about the issue
- See the data and learn more about policy solutions that benefit women and families
- Sign up for WFM’s biweekly Policy Update email
