The federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act added veterans, homeless people and others to the growing number of individuals who must work to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. Now, the Tennessee Department of Human Services is trying to get the word out: If you don’t think you should be included in the new, bigger group, you should try to explain why by Oct. 31.
That advisory remains on the department’s website while a federal government shutdown threatens on-time delivering monthly benefits in November. As advocates urge Washington lawmakers to ensure SNAP is not delayed, they also are telling Tennessee SNAP recipients to try to meet next week’s deadline.
“The states haven’t changed anything related to the work requirement piece and all those changes that came through … because of the new rules. It’s still expected that families meet those deadlines,” said Signe Anderson, senior director of nutrition advocacy at the nonpartisan Tennessee Justice Center.
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The human services department sent out an advisory aimed at addressing the Trump administration’s new mandate, which now says “able-bodied” individuals aged 18 to 65 without dependent children younger than 14 in their household must spend at least 20 hours a week working for pay or volunteering to receive SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. Also subject to the new work rule are youth and young adults up to age 24 who have been in foster care. Like veterans and homeless people, foster youth were previously exempted from requirements to work or volunteer.
Before the bill made additions, the group mainly encompassed 18- to 54-year-olds with no dependents younger than 18.
“The changes are pretty incredible,” Anderson said.
How to contact Tennessee’s Department of Human Services
Individuals who believe they should be exempted from a federal requirement to work or volunteer in exchange for SNAP benefits can upload documents detailing their reasons to One DHS. Also, they can mail or hand deliver documents to Tennessee Department of Human Services family assistance offices in Memphis, serving all of Shelby County, at 4885 Stage Road or 6941 Winchester Road.
Directors of the center and of nonprofit organizations statewide, who’ve been attending the center’s almost weekly webinars about the impact on SNAP, TennCare and other social safety net programs, have been spreading the word about the state encouraging beneficiaries to pay attention to the Oct. 31 date.
The nonprofit leaders are also continuing efforts to help SNAP beneficiaries get and submit relevant documents for the work exemption. Those documents include proof of pregnancy, letters from physicians about medical disability, proof of being treated for drug and alcohol use disorders, and proof of enrollment in job training for 80 hours a month.
Caregivers for sick or disabled individuals, part-time college students, people getting disability benefits from the Social Security or Veterans administrations, people receiving unemployment benefits and those who already work or volunteer for 80 hours a month are all exempt from the new rules.
Advocates seek clarity on work-exemption rollout, long-term impact
Meeting the Oct. 31 date is a safeguard, Anderson said. There’s uncertainty about what comes next and when for SNAP — and about how firm the October deadline is, given the advisory’s wording.
“Customers who believe they qualify for an exemption,” state officials wrote, “are encouraged to upload their verification documents … no later than October 31, 2025.”
In a Sept. 2 nationwide guidance that prompted Tennessee to issue its advisory, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Services wrote wording that suggests that state departments of human services could face federal penalties for errors made while administering SNAP — the federal government pays fully for food-buying benefits, not program administration — as early as Nov. 1 or so, said Anderson.
When they are levied, the penalties are expected to be steep.
If Tennessee continues its current administrative error rate, SNAP expenditures on children and teens alone — nationwide, they represent 40% of SNAP beneficiaries — will spike from zero dollars in the 2024-25 fiscal year to $72.8 million in 2026-27. Yearly costs for administering SNAP benefits for children and teens are projected to rise from $52.7 million to $92.5 million, according to the Tennessee Commission on Children & Youth.
In a state with a budget as tight as Tennessee’s, where will those dollars come from to fill in SNAP budget shortfalls, the justice center’s Anderson asked.
“And,” she added, the coming changes “ … don’t take into account some of the other nuances that are already happening around SNAP.”
With barriers like the lack of a permanent mailing address, limited access to computers and so forth, Anderson said, many veterans, homeless people and young adults released from foster care after turning 18 already have a harder time submitting paperwork for SNAP and other government-funded aid.
Losing your benefits, even temporarily, is troublesome when you’re low-income and food prices keep inching higher, said Janiece Bell, 35, a wife and mother, whose five children range in age from 7 months to 14 years.
“If you miss a deadline for SNAP, it can take months to go through the appeals process. We’ve been without our SNAP for a few months. That’s tough,” said Bell, previously in the military, who is in the process of applying for disability from the Veterans Administration.
“Oftentimes,” she added, “the week before it’s time to get your food stamps again, you find yourself running out of food. And food pantries can be inconsistent. A lot of times, they are lacking in resources.”
Her husband used to work for FedEx but was injured in a car accident, she said. Jobless for about a year and a half, he is applying for Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance, she said.
Bell said she found out about the state’s Oct. 31 SNAP advisory on social media, not through email, which is how the SNAP agency usually corresponds with her. She assumes that her current work exemption will remain, allowing her family to keep getting $1,500 from SNAP and $530 from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families each month.
Likely, plenty of other people on SNAP do not know about the Oct. 31 guidance, said Cardell Orrin, executive director of the Memphis affiliate of Stand for Children, a nonprofit with offices in seven states.
“I’m not clear how they’ve communicated this, how they’ve gotten it out. Whether they’re taking into account the challenges some people have at navigating bureaucracy and getting documents in … a lot of factors that come into play,” Orrin said.
“If you’re disabled or medically unfit for work or in drug rehab … and you’ve got to get paperwork into the DHS customer portal by Oct. 31, if you have problems with that, what happens then? These are factors that, hopefully, they will take into account, so they don’t unduly drop people from these benefits and necessities.”
Anderson said the USDA’s latest guidance is not as definitive as she’s found agency instructions to be over the course of her career. Its “fuzziness” may have a ripple effect.
“I think the state is just trying to figure out exactly what it needs to do to meet the law that was passed,” Anderson said, of the Tennessee human department’s advisory.
The department’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to an emailed query about the suggested Oct. 31 deadline.
Health and criminal justice journalist Katti Gray’s news coverage has appeared on ABC.com, CBS.com, and in The Guardian US, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Reuters, The Washington Post and other publications.
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