Theo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.
State officials on Monday released a plan for rolling out new federal rules that will reshape Vermont’s 3SquaresVT food assistance program, including provisions that will protect some affected households from losing benefits until February.
The changes, mandated after the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July, begin to take effect Oct. 1, and will bring new limitations for work requirements, noncitizen eligibility, utility allowances and outreach programs.
The majority of Vermonters enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will not see changes to their benefits, save for standard annual adjustments for household costs, officials said. But as the state attempts to provide clarity for those who will lose benefits, advocates say the food assistance network is under increasing pressure.
For Ivy Enoch, director of policy and advocacy at Hunger Free Vermont, the details of Monday’s outline came largely as expected.
“What’s surprising to us about these changes is that they were passed at all in the (federal) budget reconciliation bill back in July,” Enoch said.
The upper age limit for SNAP proof-of-work requirements will increase to 64 for many people without dependents who are able to work, and an exemption for parents and guardians will only apply to those with children under 14, rather than 18. Individuals experiencing homelessness will also no longer be exempt from that work requirement; Monday’s report estimated roughly 1,603 people will be affected by that change. Veterans and young adults who have aged out of foster care will also no longer be exempt, though fewer than a dozen in each group will be affected according to the report.
The Department for Children and Families and the Agency of Human Services said in Monday’s report that because of state exemptions and a federal policy that provides a grace period, work requirement changes shouldn’t cause people to lose benefits before February.
“It’s important time,” said Enoch, calling the state’s temporary respite from the “harmful and punitive” work requirements “the right thing to do.”
“DCF is utilizing its discretion to ensure that 3SquaresVT recipients are not negatively impacted by the work requirement until … November 1,” read Monday’s report.
On that day, a federal policy that allows each financially eligible adult three months of benefits — regardless of other barriers like the work requirement — every three years resets its calendar. That three-month buffer will be usable immediately, carrying affected households through to February if they choose.
“What we were able to do is to give us more time, and give Vermonters time to engage with us,” said Miranda Gray, the deputy commissioner of the Department for Children and Families’ Economic Services Division.
The timeline has been difficult to manage, Gray said, as has the unusual absence of immediate guidance.
“They don’t have answers to everything yet,” she said of federal SNAP officials.
Gray said her department had been reviewing the SNAP eligibility of noncitizens in a process that concluded Wednesday. In some 1,523 relevant cases, noncitizen households may be denied benefits beginning Oct. 1 if they are not members of certain protected groups. Refugees and asylees outside these groups are no longer eligible for food stamps.
The Standard Utility Allowance, or “Heat and Eat” policy, will likewise change Oct. 1, with households only allowed to claim utility costs to obtain more SNAP benefits if they include older adults or disabled members.
Federal funding for SNAP State Outreach through the Vermont food assistance network will be reduced in fall 2026, when federal matching grants to at least 10 organizations across the state to provide application assistance and other services will be halved.
“I think it’s leaving a hole,” Gray said. “I think it will be something that we certainly are talking about this legislative session.”
Hunger Free Vermont is a recipient of the affected outreach program. Apart from putting pressure on the organization’s programming, Enoch said, it’s a big ask financially for nonprofits to front significant costs in a grant landscape that’s becoming less stable.
“Partners are incurring more risk in continuing to participate in this grant,” she said. “Private charity can’t make up for this loss of government spending.”
Roughly half of the affected organizations administering SNAP State Outreach programs are Area Agencies on Aging — nonprofits that connect older Vermonters with resources like food stamps, transportation and health care. Mary Hayden, executive director of the Vermont Association of Area Agencies on Aging, said the SNAP State Outreach had been critical in helping older people navigate complex applications and requirements.
“I’m really concerned,” Hayden said. “Will eligible people, including older Vermonters, disabled Vermonters … not be able to benefit from the program because they couldn’t get the assistance they needed to sign up properly?”
The federal reduction is part of a larger body of cost-sharing changes that will see Vermont shoulder 75% of the significant administrative costs of SNAP — up from half. Beginning next fall, these changes could add $8.4 million to the state’s obligation, according to Monday’s report.
It’s “really important that we don’t waver on the fact that SNAP or 3SquaresVT really matters,” Enoch said. “It is our most effective food security program.”
Households affected by new federal rule changes should receive notifications by mail this month.
“Please open it, review it, and call us if you need to,” Gray said.
