Alexandria residents receiving food assistance will see their benefits shift to a new state-funded program next week as federal SNAP funding lapses amid a government shutdown.
The Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance Program will begin Monday, providing weekly payments to the nearly 6,000 households and approximately 12,000 individuals in Alexandria who currently receive SNAP benefits, city officials said Tuesday night.
“This is a very significant development,” Kate Garvey, director of the city’s Department of Community and Human Services, told the City Council during its legislative meeting on Tuesday night.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the program Tuesday afternoon, calling it necessary to address what he described as a “Democrat Shutdown” in Washington. The state issued an emergency declaration enabling it to backfill federal SNAP funding with state dollars.
“Virginia has issued a state of emergency which enables them to actually backfill the federal SNAP funding,” Garvey said. “The program is considered parallel system to SNAP. It’s not actually funding the SNAP structure.”
Virginia is among a handful of states stepping in as federal funds that help tens of millions of Americans buy food could begin running dry Saturday if Congress doesn’t reach a deal to end the shutdown. The Trump administration said Friday it won’t use a roughly $5 billion contingency fund to keep food aid flowing in November and that states temporarily covering costs won’t be reimbursed.
SNAP helps about one in eight Americans buy groceries.
The Virginia program, known as VENA, will provide equivalent benefits to current SNAP recipients using their existing electronic benefit transfer cards. But instead of receiving a month’s worth of assistance at once, recipients will get weekly payments starting Nov. 3.
“This VENA program will begin on Monday, November 3rd. It is using the existing electronic benefit transfer cards that individuals have their benefits loaded on,” Garvey said. “The funding will come. It will be seen as a separate benefit on that card. A significant change is that the benefits will be sent weekly, not an entire month.”
The state has committed to funding the program through November, though officials said long-term plans remain unclear.
“We are not clear if this funding will be available after the end of November and so there was not a commitment made to that,” Garvey said. “During the press conference it was discussed that there’s exploration related to sustaining the WIC benefits further, but there were no specifics.”
Youngkin said Virginia will draw on budget surpluses to fund the program and is providing $1 million to food banks across the state to address any gaps during the transition.
“The dereliction of duty on the part of our federal Democrat Senators is creating a crisis for the most needy Virginians,” Youngkin said during his announcement. “It is an extraordinary step for Virginia to provide food benefits in 7-day increments in November, but we must do so because Congressional Democrats are putting politics above people.”
The governor called on Virginia’s Democratic U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine to “end this shutdown right now.”
The Trump administration is blaming Democrats for the impasse, while Democrats say they won’t agree to reopen the government until Republicans negotiate with them on extending expiring subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Republicans say Democrats must first agree to reopen the government before negotiation.
Only residents who were approved for SNAP benefits by Tuesday will automatically qualify for the state program. Alexandria officials said they are planning pop-up food distributions for people who applied after that cutoff.
“We do have people who are applying that will not receive this benefit,” Garvey said. “We will be [doing] targeted outreach to them to try to get that funding and that food out to them.”
Food banks and pantries across the country are bracing for increased demand as the shutdown persists. They were already struggling after federal program cuts earlier this year, when the Trump administration ended programs that had provided more than $1 billion for schools and food banks to fight hunger.
The city has posted information about food assistance and other shutdown-related resources online. Residents can also call the Department of Community and Human Services at 703.746.5700 for assistance.
The Virginia Department of Social Services will provide additional information about the VENA program on its website as it develops.
