Missourians will have to do more to prove they need federal food assistance starting Thursday.
The Missouri Department of Social Services is expanding eligibility verification for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to require documentation like rent receipts, childcare payment receipts and bank statements. The change applies to new applicants and existing beneficiaries who are recertifying or want to add a person to their benefits.
People who already receive SNAP benefits will not be immediately affected by the change but will have to comply with the new requirements the next time they recertify eligibility.
"Ensuring the accuracy and integrity of the SNAP program is essential to supporting Missouri families who rely on these benefits," said Mandi Adams, director of the Family Support Division, in a statement on the DSS website. "These updated verification guidelines help us make consistent, well-documented eligibility decisions while safeguarding resources for households who truly need them."
Policy advocates worry that extra paperwork will create additional barriers for low-income families.
"It's the families that are already struggling, the families that are having multiple challenges, who are transient, who are having to move from one apartment to another, who are struggling to live day to day that are going to be extra burdened with having to come up with this documented paperwork," said Christine Woody, food security policy manager at Empower Missouri.
Previously, households could self-attest to their expenses to establish eligibility. But with more documentation to review, Empower Missouri also has concerns about possible processing delays — which could mean people have to wait longer to receive their SNAP benefits.
"It's going to require more manual documentation, more paperwork and more human touches that ultimately will probably create more errors for a department that is already struggling with its workload," said Woody.
Federal law also requires state agencies administering SNAP to assist families facing difficulty producing the mandatory documentation. After witnessing delays and disarray in the DSS, Woody is skeptical the agency will be able to provide such assistance.
"If you have a client who cannot get something from their landlord, cannot get something from their childcare provider, who has a difficult time obtaining paperwork, the state or the caseworkers are then required to assist that," said Woody. "I cannot see in any sort of way with the amount of staff that [DSS] have and the amount of applications they need to process that they'll be able to provide that assistance"
The expanded eligibility verification is part of a series of changes to SNAP, many stemming from the One Big Beautiful Bill passed by Congress in 2025.
"This policy change comes at a troubling time when almost 18,000 children in Missouri have already lost food assistance under the additional requirements imposed on SNAP recipients under HR1," said a prior statement from Empower Missouri.
The Department of Social Services did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
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