This study is among the first to explore how the expiration of expanded pandemic-era CalFresh benefits impacted participants’ enrollment and financial wellbeing.
Background
CPL is partnering with the California Department of Social Services to assess the effects of pandemic-era benefit changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or CalFresh in California).
The COVID-19 pandemic spurred an historic expansion of the social safety net to meet an unprecedented level of need. In 2020 and 2021, Congress authorized states to disperse temporary, staggered increases in the amount of monthly benefits provided to SNAP recipients. In California, these temporary increases expired in March 2023, reducing households’ monthly amounts by a minimum of $95 per month. This benefits “cliff” represents one of the largest changes in program history. However, little is known about how it impacted program enrollment or the financial wellbeing of CalFresh participants who were among the hardest hit by the pandemic, including people of color, individuals with very low or no income, and women.
Research Project
Status: ongoing
This project seeks to quantify the effects of the CalFresh benefits cliff on recipients’ continued program enrollment, their employment and earnings, as well as markers of their overall financial health, including credit scores, debt levels, and late payment rates. This work builds on a new dataset that links CalFresh participants’ enrollment information with their wages, credit, and debt outcomes, and will shed new light on the potential role of CalFresh in reducing financial hardship among low-income families.
Research Team
Dr. Erika Brown (Co-Principal Investigator), Professor Jesse Rothstein (Co-Principal Investigator), Dr. Brett Fischer, Nikta Akhavan, Vikram Jambulapati, Huizhi Gong
Results
Forthcoming