The Food and Nutrition Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture contracted with the Urban Institute and its partner, MEF Associates, to examine the causes and costs of SNAP churning—the on-off-on cycling of SNAP participants. Churning is a major policy concern, in terms of benefit loss to households who may have remained continuously eligible, the burden to them of re-entering the program, and the administrative costs to program agencies associated with case closings and re-openings. For this project, MEF conducted site visits to SNAP offices, conducted focus groups with SNAP participants, and led the cost analysis.
