Compared to the same time last year, fewer Belmont households are enrolled in the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP — but local food assistance advocates say the numbers don’t capture the reality of what’s happening in town.
“I was talking to a friend who uses the [Belmont Food Pantry]. She goes when it opens. People are now lining up at 6 a.m., and she says that’s unusual,” said Merri Suzuki, food assistance manager for the Belmont Farmers’ Market. “She used to be able to just go in.”
In 2025, there were 721 SNAP households in Belmont, representing 1,145 individuals, according to Hal Shubin, chair of the Belmont Farmers’ Market Committee. As of March 2026, the latest data available from the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) show there are 625 SNAP households in Belmont, representing 947 individuals.
“Why is that [decrease] happening? The only explanation I’ve found is that the Department of Transitional Assistance, which runs SNAP, doesn’t have enough case workers,” Shubin said.
The state agency began working in January to address the shortage, adding 80 new positions, according to a report by the State House News Service. Despite filling those roles, DTA Commissioner Michael Cole told legislators in March that less than half of the incoming calls are answered. In March he said he intended to backfill an additional 42 case worker positions.
Shubin also noted that where the Belmont Farmers’ Market served 285 unique households with SNAP benefits last year, 389 unique households received HIP+ benefits, meaning an additional 104 people came for just $20 per month. HIP+, he explained, was created by the Farmers’ Market last year after the state cut funding for the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP), which offered SNAP recipients $40 to $80 in free produce.
“That’s more for HIP+, but not SNAP. It doesn’t make sense that the number of SNAP recipients in Belmont is going down,” Shubin said. “That tells me there are a lot of other people who need food assistance.”
Even after the state’s program was reinstated in September 2025, the market continued its own HIP+ program.
Suzuki said in the first year of the HIP+ program, shoppers asked if the market would continue the program into a second year. At the time, market organizers weren’t sure, but thanks to successful fundraising efforts and generous donations from community members and businesses, the local program will continue at this year’s market.
“The community really stepped up,” she said.
Each year, the Farmers’ Market offers a $25 SNAP match and double coupons from the federally funded Farmers Market Nutrition Program. It also has three or four HIP (Healthy Incentive Program) farmers.
“It helps people, but it doesn’t solve the problem,” Shubin said. “We can’t solve the problem of food insecurity.”
According to Project Bread, using data from the Greater Boston Food Bank, roughly 40% of Massachusetts households were food insecure in 2025, and 25% had “very low” food insecurity. Both data points have increased steadily since 2019.
Amy Kirsch, co-founder and co-chair of Belmont Helps, estimates about 8% of Belmont residents are food insecure.
“When you think about it, that’s eight people out of 100,” she said. “While we have beautiful homes and while we have great resources and new schools, there are 8% of our people that are still needing their basic meals and food needs met.”
Belmont Helps is a volunteer-run organization that helps families in crisis, Kirsch said. Since it began six years ago — a result of the COVID-19 pandemic — the organization has helped about 400 families and individuals. According to Kirsch, using dollars raised through a GoFundMe campaign or checks written to the Belmont Food Collaborative (a 501c3), Belmont Helps subsidizes gift cards for Star Market and, with partners such as Food Link, delivers 15 produce bags each week to families in need.
“Things are getting more expensive for everyone,” Kirsch said. “It’s hard for them to get off of our help. We connect them to as many other services that are ongoing as possible.”
Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that prices for food eaten at home rose 2.9% in April compared to the same month a year ago. Restaurant and food chain prices also increased, bringing the overall food price increase to 3.2%.
With fuel and grocery prices rising, food advocates like Shubin are unsure what to expect, given fewer people are signing up for SNAP benefits. Regardless, there isn’t a silver bullet for solving food insecurity. Suzuki said more DTS case workers are needed but that in general the process needs to be easier for those seeking help. More robust, daily food pantries would also ease the burden.
“I don’t know what the answer is, but I also don’t know what it’s like to not have enough food, and I can’t imagine,” Shubin said. “It is just so fundamental. I know the Legislature is working on the budget and … they did increase the amount for DTA for case workers. I’m not sure it’s as far as it’s needed.”
