IN-DEPTH REPORT
FEBRUARY 25, 2022

“I honestly don’t know how I am going to get by”: Parents are grappling with the loss of the monthly Child Tax Credit
Low-income families are starting the new year in a desperate position. The monthly Child Tax Credit payments families had been receiving since July ended in December 2021, after the Build Back Better Bill stalled in Congress. And while the Child Tax Credit payments were being distributed, other benefits were declining dramatically. Since July 2021, the percentage of Providers users receiving unemployment assistance declined by 87%. States across the country, including Florida and Missouri, have ended all or some emergency SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or “food stamps”) benefits. In addition, only 36% of Providers users–compared to 53% in August 2021– are currently receiving P-EBT (Pandemic-EBT), a program designed to replace free and reduced price school meals during the pandemic but that has become a lifeline for many families.
Here’s what we’ve heard from Providers users with children at the start of 2022.
Increasing costs and diminishing aid means families are struggling to put food on the table
How are you planning this month’s budget knowing you will not receive a Child Tax Credit payment this month?
Well I’m going to cut out on certain meals
- Manuela, Texas
“It's kind of back to the basic life of struggling now,“ said Andrea*, a mother of 3 in Pennsylvania, at the end of January. She received the Child Tax Credit monthly payments until December, and is now struggling to buy enough food for her husband and 6, 5, and 1 year old. “I spent like $400 [on food] and it still wasn't enough. I got a little bit for breakfast and some for dinner. But nothing for lunch. It was rocky. I googled it. I could send you the link. I looked up what is the requirement for a family of 5 to eat per month…It’s $1,000. $1,000 vs $400.” She last received P-EBT in the summer, and though Pennsylvania has approved P-EBT for the 2021-2022 school year, it has not yet released a timeline for making those payments. Andrea and her husband both work, switching off so someone is always home with the kids, who now go to a 100% virtual school.
“I knew they wouldn't pass the bill in time for them to continue it. I didn't get my hopes up,” says Andrea of the Child Tax Credit monthly payments. But “my kids weren't expecting it. I used to be like ‘what do you want to eat today?’ They would want a pizza and we would order. Now they ask mommy I want a pizza and I tell them that we don’t have money. That's how it was on Christmas. I had to see what I was going to spend on food and what Santa was gonna bring. I don't like the holidays anymore. But the kids were happy, so I was happy.”
Unfortunately, Andrea is not alone. In January, 65% of Providers users with children under 18 spent $100 or more on food beyond SNAP, P-EBT or other government benefits, and 87% said that their same basic monthly food purchases cost more than they did a year ago.
Among users with children under 18, 36% reported eating less, 26% reported skipping meals, and 19% reported relying on others for meals in January.
