About half of eligible Vermonters aren’t enrolled in 3SquaresVT, the programs are built to supplement rather than feed, and federal eligibility rules have tightened over the past year.

by Dave Soulia, for FYIVT.com

Last month FYIVT reported that Vermont landfills more than 80,000 tons of food a year, several times what its hungriest residents would need by any count. A reader followed up with the obvious question: with local, state and federal food programs all running, how are there still hungry people in Vermont?

The answer, drawn from state data and legislative testimony, is less about food than about delivery. The programs are designed to cover part of a household’s grocery bill. About half of the people eligible for the largest one aren’t enrolled. And federal rule changes over the past year have reduced or ended benefits for some households; DCF counted about 1,400 that lost access in March alone, when new work requirements took effect.

Built to supplement

3SquaresVT, Vermont’s name for the federal SNAP program, distributes about $155 million a year to roughly 65,000 people. That works out to about $200 per person per month, or roughly $6.50 a day.

The charitable system is smaller. The Vermont Foodbank distributed about 14.5 million pounds of food last year through a network serving roughly 70,000 people a month. Spread evenly, that is about 17 pounds per person per month.

Neither is meant to cover a full diet. Both figures are FYIVT calculations from program totals; actual benefits vary widely by household size and income.

Half of eligible Vermonters aren’t enrolled

The Department for Children and Families, in its federal fiscal 2026 outreach plan, estimates that about 48 percent of Vermonters at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level participate in 3SquaresVT — 64,633 people as of May 2025. That implies roughly 135,000 eligible Vermonters, and about 70,000 who aren’t using the benefit.

Among older Vermonters, participation is 46 percent: 17,536 of an estimated 37,725 eligible.

The plan doesn’t break down why. Advocates point to paperwork, stigma and benefit amounts small enough that some households decide applying isn’t worth it.

The gap between programs

3SquaresVT eligibility in Vermont generally tops out at 185 percent of poverty. The Foodbank serves households up to 300 percent. For a family of four under 2025 federal guidelines, that band runs from roughly $59,000 to $96,000 a year.

Households in that range earn too much for 3SquaresVT but still carry Vermont’s housing, heating and transportation costs. Rent and fuel are fixed; groceries are the line that flexes. Carrie Stahler, the Foodbank’s government affairs manager, told VTDigger in January that 3SquaresVT has never been available to everyone in the state who needs help with food.

The Foodbank reported pounds distributed rose 8.5 percent from July–September 2024 to the same period in 2025, with some partner food shelves up more than 55 percent.

Federal changes, one year in

The federal budget law signed in July 2025, known as H.R.1, changed SNAP in stages:

• October 2025: The “heat and eat” utility allowance was limited to older and disabled Vermonters. DCF projected about 2,600 households would see benefits drop by about $108 a month, while about 90 percent of the caseload received a small cost-of-living increase. Several non-citizen categories lost eligibility; 119 refugee and asylee households lost some or all benefits.
• November 2025: During the federal shutdown, SNAP benefits for roughly 64,000 Vermonters lapsed. The state’s Emergency Board covered about 15 days of benefits with roughly $6.3 million in state funds, plus $250,000 to the Foodbank.
• March 2026: Expanded work requirements took effect, raising the upper age for able-bodied adults without dependents from 54 to 64 and ending exemptions for veterans, people experiencing homelessness and young adults leaving foster care. DCF said about 1,400 households lost access that month.

Hunger Free Vermont says the changes have affected more than 7,000 3SquaresVT households in all, either ending eligibility or adding requirements.

Each change has a stated rationale. Work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents date to the 1996 welfare overhaul: 20 hours a week of work, volunteering or job training, or benefits are limited to three months in three years. H.R.1 extended that rule to older adults and narrowed the exemption for parents. The “heat and eat” change ended a practice in which a nominal $21 heating-assistance payment qualified a household for the maximum utility deduction, raising benefits regardless of actual heating costs. Supporters also argue spending grew without improving outcomes. In ending its annual food security survey last September, USDA noted that national food insecurity stayed largely flat even as SNAP spending rose more than 87 percent from 2019 to 2023.

What it costs the state

On Oct. 1, Vermont began paying 75 percent of the cost to administer 3SquaresVT, up from 50 percent. Gov. Phil Scott’s budget proposed $4.3 million to cover the increase, and the Legislature kept it in the FY27 budget. Advocates had sought $6.3 million; an earlier estimate ran as high as $8.4 million a year.

A larger exposure starts in federal fiscal 2028, when states with higher SNAP payment error rates must pay 5 to 15 percent of benefit costs. Supporters say both shifts give states, which run eligibility and control accuracy, a direct stake in administering the program well. Vermont’s error rate currently keeps its share at zero. Advocates estimate a 5-to-15 percent share would cost the state $7 million to $22 million a year.

What nobody is counting

Measuring the effect of these changes, in either direction, will be harder than it used to be. USDA’s 2024 survey was its last. Food shelves count visits and pounds, not unique individuals, and the Foodbank’s monthly people-served figure is an estimate. Schools report meals served, not meals eaten.

That leaves DCF’s monthly 3SquaresVT caseload as the clearest remaining signal: how many Vermonters are enrolled, and how that number moves as the new rules take hold.