Courtesy of Kentucky Lantern
Meals for seniors in Kentucky are getting a $9.1 million temporary lifeline after pandemic-era funding expired, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday.
Meanwhile, roughly 576,000 Kentuckians may go without nutrition benefits in November as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is set to run out of funds in less than two weeks if the government shutdown persists.
While the federal government shutdown continues, Beshear said, Kentucky will also not receive funds for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families — known in Kentucky as KTAP — which provides modest monthly payments to about 15,000 impoverished families with children.
“It appears at least as of today, we will not receive those funds from the federal government,” Beshear said Monday. The state is going to foot the costs for November, but cannot guarantee anything beyond that, Beshear said.
But the state cannot afford to pick up the costs of SNAP, commonly known as food stamps, if the federal funding is not there, Beshear said.
“For November, more than 600,000 Kentuckians rely on SNAP. That’s 1 in 8 of our people, many of which are children,” he said. “This is a scary and stressful time, and team Kentucky is committed to processing benefits the moment the federal government provides the funds.”
Kentucky is already dealing with high levels of food insecurity. According to a report from Feeding America, about 17% of Kentuckians had a shortage of food in 2023.
‘Rebuilding trust’
Republican state lawmakers criticized Beshear for not moving to fill the funding gap in meals for seniors last month after the administration notified Area Development Districts, which administer state programs for seniors, of an expected shortfall in the meals budget.
The temporary funding that Beshear announced Friday comes from a previously-funded study that never took place and will help fund senior meals through the fiscal year, Beshear said.
The legislature will need to retroactively approve the transfer of funds when it returns to Frankfort for the session in January, he said. A Senate Republican spokesman said that is expected to happen.
“No Kentuckian should face hunger,” Beshear said. “And while I’m glad we found a temporary solution, we must ensure that we understand our people’s needs, as well as the cost controls and procedures for the senior meal program to appropriately budget and run these programs in the future.”
Using extra funding provided by Congress during the pandemic, Kentucky expanded meals for seniors, including providing meals for pickup, and eliminated waitlists for meals.
Sen. Greg Elkins, R-Winchester, the co-chair of the Legislative Oversight and Investigations Committee, said in a Friday statement that “the focus must be on getting meals delivered quickly and rebuilding trust with those who administer this critical program and the elderly Kentuckians who rely on it.”
The program provides nutrition services to people 60 and older and their spouses, according to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Meals are also delivered at home to people 60 or older “who, due to illness or incapacitating disability, are unable to attend a congregate site and have no one in the home able to prepare a nutritious meal on a regular basis.”
Background: ‘Seniors…don’t have food to eat.’
Monday’s funding transfer happened after multiple calls from Republicans in the legislature asking Beshear’s administration to find the funds. Beshear said that the transfer took so long because “there was no ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding available” and because the state is facing a projected $305 million revenue shortfall.
“We’ve got to cut all the areas, because the law says we live under a balanced budget, just like each and every one of our families,” Beshear said.
On Sept. 8, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ Department for Aging and Independent Living notified Area Development District directors of a funding shortfall in the senior nutrition program.
“Due to reduced federal funding and other recent federal policy changes, fewer dollars will be available and more responsibility will be shifted to states,” that letter said. It directed districts to prioritize older adults with the highest nutritional needs, reduce or stop drive thru senior citizen center meal services to maximize nutrition dollars and more.
A Sept. 18 news release from Kentuckiana Regional Planning & Development Agency (KIDPA) said each development district would work “to assess what these funding reductions mean for their communities.”
“The loss of funding to support the senior nutrition programs in the KIPDA region is going to have a dire impact on some of the most vulnerable members of our communities,” Jarrett Haley, KIDPA executive director, said at that time. “KIPDA is committed to working with our dedicated network of providers to minimize the harm to the seniors that rely on these services.”
Lawmakers also called on Beshear to address the problem. During an Oct. 9 committee meeting, Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Paducah, said there were “seniors calling my office … who don’t have food to eat” and asked why Beshear had not called a special session to address the problem.
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
