By admin 
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Around half of the families who received SNAP benefits last year no longer receive those benefits, according to numbers released by the Arizona Department of Economic Security.
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The drop represents the biggest decline in the country and means hundreds of thousands of people are now struggling to put food on the table.
Ricky Holbert, a former SNAP recipient and single father of three, has gone months without benefits despite numerous applications, emails, and phone calls.
“Working and then trying to put food in the house and not having the extra benefits that help, it’s a very stressful, tight situation,” Holbert said.
According to reports from the Arizona Department of Economic Security, more than 235,000 families received SNAP benefits in April. That number dropped from more than 455,000 families last July.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, who was in Marana Thursday for an event for ranchers and farmers, said the decline was the goal following changes to the program by the Trump administration last summer, including requiring able-bodied adults without dependents to work.
“You show up with an electric bill and you basically immediately start getting food stamps. That’s not fair to the hard-working men and women standing behind me who pay taxes, to all of the taxpayers, and quite frankly it’s not fair to the families who really need these programs who are maybe being elbowed out or not eligible because of all of the fraud that’s there,” Rollins said.
Since the changes, Rollins said the department has caught fraud within the program.
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“200,000 dead people getting assistance; we found 500,000 people getting more than one benefit when they should only get one, we’ve made almost 1,000 arrests,” Rollins said.
Holbert said he has a job and children and still finds his application getting denied.
“Every time I do renew it, they say I don’t put enough information in – like my employment status – which I have been with my company for five years and they know, and how many people live in my house, like you guys should know all that. I have three kids, and it’s just me,” Holbert said.
“They’re penalizing people that are struggling,” Holbert said.
Pima County officials have acknowledged how many of their residents are going without benefits and have come up with a SNAP action plan with the Pima County Health Department aimed at supporting residents in maintaining their benefits.
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