(Radio Iowa) – An emergency food group is concerned about how proposed legislation could contribute to the spiking demand for food assistance. Des Moines Area Religious Council spokesman, Blake Willadsen, says DMARC assisted a record-breaking 19-thousand people last month. He’s concerned the bill which would add further hurdles to SNAP applicants, meaning more households turning to emergency food.

The state ended some Iowans’ access to maximum SNAP benefits in March of 2022, and Willadsen says that decrease was followed by record levels of visitors by last August.

The bill in the Iowa Legislature would limit assets households can have to get food assistance, and require more frequent eligibility checks. The bill would kick an estimated 28-hundred people off SNAP.

(reporting by Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa Public Radio)