More Adults In Georgia Will Have To Work To Keep Food Stamps

Georgia plans to expand work requirements for food stamps from three counties to 24 starting in 2017, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

The state started requiring adults without children to prove they were looking for work in order to be eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, or food stamps, in just three counties in January 2016.

Those three counties saw a 60 percent drop in food stamp recipients, from 6,102 in January to 2,468 in June, AJC reports. Next year, the state will expand the work requirement to 20 more counties, and may push to bring all 159 Georgia counties under the regulations soon.

To receive benefits under the new requirements, adults between 18 and 49 who don’t have children or disabilities will have to work 80 hours per month. Only about 10,ooo people in the 20 counties will be affected by the expanded requirements, but there are about 110,000 able-bodied individuals without children out of the 1.8 million who receive food stamps in Georgia.

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