ESTIMATING THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF STATE-FUNDED SNAP AND TANF PROGRAMS FOR IMMIGRANTS IN MASSACHUSETTS

PRS Briefs
2223-13
Monday, November 27, 2023
Meghana
Mishra
Prescott
Herzog
Kiara
Ortiz
Sophie
Saraisky
immigrantbenefitsfinal.pdf

Immigrant eligibility for federal public benefits programs is governed by a patchwork of federal laws and regulations. Federal public benefits programs include programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Prior to the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Act (PRWORA) in 1996, lawful permanent residents were generally eligible for these benefits in a manner similar to United States (U.S.) citizens. However, PRWORA divided immigrants into various categories such that certain groups of immigrants were considered "qualified" to receive benefits while many others were not.

This law had the effect of greatly restricting access to benefits for a significant number of immigrants, many of whom subsequently faced five-year waiting periods or were completely barred from receiving benefits altogether. Furthermore, Congress later carved out numerous exceptions to PRWORA policies, largely on an ad hoc basis. The end result of this process as it stands today is a complicated set of eligibility guidelines that are difficult to navigate, particularly for immigrants who may lack English proficiency or may be concerned about issues related to public charge, mixed status families, or sponsor deeming.

After many immigrants were barred from receiving federally funded benefits, some states began to utilize their own funding to deliver similar benefits to these immigrant populations. Massachusetts previously had this kind of policy in place; however, the program ended after 2002. Currently, there are five states in the U.S. which have state-funded food assistance programs (similar to SNAP) and over 20 states which have state-funded cash assistance programs (similar to TANF).

Massachusetts is currently considering Bill H. 135/S. 76: An Act establishing basic needs assistance for Massachusetts immigrant residents which would create a framework to restore broad immigrant eligibility for food and cash assistance. The creation of these state-funded SNAP and TANF look-alike programs and the eventual disbursement of benefits would then be subject to the appropriation of sufficient funding in the next state budget process. The overarching aim of this report is to estimate the costs and benefits of implementing these programs in Massachusetts.

Section 1 of this report provides a brief introduction to the welfare system in the U.S., with a focus on the policies that relate to immigrant eligibility for benefits. This section describes the impact of PRWORA, the current benefits eligibility guidelines for immigrants, the federal policy landscape for immigrant benefits reform, and other barriers that immigrants face when trying to access benefits.

Section 2 consists of an overview of the benefits programs and policies in Massachusetts. In addition to delineating the history of state funded benefits in Massachusetts, this section of the report summarizes the various food and cash assistance programs which are currently operating in the state and then further examines the proposed legislation described above. Section 3 outlines the demographics of the immigrant population in Massachusetts.

Section 4 considers the set of five states that offer both state-funded SNAP- and TANF-type benefits programs and evaluates each of these programs with respect to their eligibility guidelines, caseload, and costs to the state in question.

Section 5 then applies the findings of these state-based case studies to Massachusetts. This section begins with a depiction of SNAP and TANF take-up rates among immigrants. Next, this section continues with a discussion of findings from the literature on the costs and benefits of SNAP and TANF and an analysis of the Chelsea Eats study, a local cash assistance experiment that targeted an immigrant community in Massachusetts. This section of the report concludes with a simple model of the projected costs to the state of implementing the proposed food and cash assistance programs for immigrants. These cost estimates rely on data from Washington state as presented in the corresponding state-based case study given that the proposed programs in Massachusetts would be very similar to those currently operating in Washington. The main takeaways from the cost estimate analysis are as follows:

  • Providing state-funded food and cash assistance benefits to the relevant immigrant population in Massachusetts is projected to cost approximately $39.3 million annually for a full caseload of recipients. However, as described in depth in Section 5.4, there are numerous factors that would function to raise or lower these costs in practice. In addition, costs would be lower than this amount during the initial ramp-up period.
  • For a few different reasons, state expenditures for these benefits programs are largely driven by the costs of providing and administering the state-funded SNAP benefits (approximately 85 percent of the total costs listed above) rather than the state-funded TANF benefits (approximately 15 percent of the total costs listed above).
  • As is the case in Washington state, a large proportion of the state-funded benefits in Massachusetts will go to mixed status households. Thus, the state will only be responsible for paying the incremental costs of benefits for additional recipients in households where at least one family member already receives federally funded benefits.
  • Lastly, the estimated costs of providing the proposed state-funded food and cash assistance in Massachusetts would amount to just over 1.5 percent of the total value of the federal SNAP benefits and TANF cash assistance benefits distributed in the state. The estimated costs to provide these state-funded food and cash assistance benefits is also dwarfed by the amount already being spent on other Massachusetts state-specific benefits programs like EAEDC and EA shelter