NM to follow federal government's lead, reinstate requirement for food and cash assistance recipients

SANTA FE — More than 475,000 New Mexicans who receive food or cash assistance under federal programs will have to complete a yearly interview to retain their benefits, starting next week.

The interview requirement for those receiving benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — widely known as SNAP — had been suspended by the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But more than four years after the pandemic first hit New Mexico, the state is following the federal government’s lead in reinstating it effective Sept. 1, state Health Care Authority officials announced this week.

“Our priority is to ensure thatw eligible New Mexicans continue receiving essential support,” said Niki Kozlowski, the director of the agency’s Income Support Division. “We recognize that this adjustment may require some getting used to, but our team is here to help with the necessary interviews and applications.”

However, some advocacy groups have petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture to remove the interview requirement for food aid, describing it as burdensome and unnecessary.

Sovereign Hager, the legal director for the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, said there’s no link between interview requirements for food aid and fraud detection.

“It’s unfortunate the requirement exists at all, because it’s redundant,” Hager told the Journal.

She also questioned the state agency’s ability to effectively process the interview requests, citing high state employee vacancy rates and a past backlog in food and medical aid applications.

“It involves a lot of work by the state agency to schedule these interviews and conduct them,” Hager said, while also noting federal regulations require the interviews be conducted by state employees, not contractors.

The change will apply to state residents receiving aid from SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

The food aid program provides assistance for low-income state residents to purchase grocery items. It was expanded during the pandemic as unemployment rates soared, but the expanded benefits have since been dialed back.

New Mexico had the nation’s highest share of residents receiving SNAP benefits as of the 2023 fiscal year, with 23.1% of state residents participating in the program, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

As of June, there were 475,746 food stamp recipients in New Mexico, according to the state Health Care Authority. That figure included 299,484 adults and 176,262 children, and represented a slight increase from one year ago.

Participating families access benefits through an electronic benefit transfer card, which functions like a debit card. The average benefit per person was $182 per month — or roughly $6 per day — as of the 2023 fiscal year, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

In addition, there were about 20,700 state residents receiving assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, per HCA data.

Meanwhile, the change will also apply to new applicants for food and cash assistance who, starting Oct. 1, will have to complete an interview with a state staffer to determine whether they meet eligibility requirements.

The interviews can be conducted by phone or in person at a HCA Income Support Division field office, agency spokesman Tim Fowler said.

There are roughly 35 field offices around New Mexico, including four in the Albuquerque area.

Fowler also said most food and cash assistance recipients will have to renew their applications once every 12 months, though seniors and disabled individuals with no income only have to recertify once every three years.