With 20% of city on federal welfare, D.C. loses 27-year exemption from work requirements

Since 1999, Washington, D.C. has enjoyed a waiver from work requirements in a federal welfare program reportedly used by 20% of the city's residents. That's changing on Monday.

President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill ended the city's 27-year waiver in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, affecting new applicants and "those recertifying existing benefits after this weekend," local media WTOP reported.

D.C. Department of Human Services Director Rachel Pierre said "able-bodied adults without dependents" will be notified they have three months to get work or risk losing their benefits. 

The city will help recipients learn if they qualify for remaining exemptions, such as raising young children, caring for elderly relatives or disability, but otherwise they'll have to work or "participate in educational programs" 80 hours monthly. They can also sign up for the SNAP Volunteer Program.

The change only affects about 18,000 of 133,000 SNAP recipients, Pierre said. The nonprofit D.C Hunger Solutions estimated a larger population of SNAP recipients, 140,000 in the city of roughly 694,000, when it warned supporters last fall of the waiver's pending expiration in December 2025. 

The waiver got extended to May 1 and then to June 1, while most other states reportedly started enforcing work requirements in December. 

"If you’re required to meet the work requirements and don’t comply, you will only be allowed to get SNAP for three months in a 36-month period," DHS says.