Skip to main content

FoodShare: Alerts

Your FoodShare benefits can end due to not meeting the work requirement

If you are 18-54 years old, can work, and do not have any children under 18 living in your home, then you may need to meet a work requirement to get FoodShare.

You may have gotten FoodShare this year even though you weren’t meeting the work requirement. That’s because members can get three months of FoodShare benefits in a three-year period without meeting the work requirement. The three-year period restarted in January 2025.

There are a lot of ways to deal with this requirement, but if you didn’t meet it for three months since the beginning of 2025, you aren’t getting FoodShare benefits starting in the fourth month.

There are three main ways you can get FoodShare benefits again:

Two construction workers discuss the project on a site
  1. The first is to show that you met the work requirement or will meet the work requirement within 30 days. You can do this by working, volunteering, being in a work program, or some combination of these things for at least 80 hours each month–or about 20 hours each week.
  2. The second is by having what’s called an exemption now or during one or more of the three months when you got FoodShare. An exemption is something that’s true about you that means you don’t have to meet the work requirement–like if you are pregnant, experiencing homelessness, or a veteran.
  3. The third way to get FoodShare again is by figuring out if you had a good cause for why you didn’t meet the work requirement in January, February, or March. Maybe you had a crisis, or unexpectedly didn’t have transportation, etc.

More information about the work requirement, exemptions, and good cause

How to meet the work requirement

  • Work or volunteer at least 80 hours per month.
  • Participate in a work training program at least 80 hours per month. Work programs include Job Corps, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) training programs through your local job center, Transitional Jobs, and Transform Milwaukee Jobs.
  • Work, volunteer, and take part in a work program for a combined total of at least 80 hours each month.

Have an exemption to the work requirement

  • You are pregnant.
  • You are physically or mentally unfit for work. This includes if you’re receiving disability, or your social worker or doctor confirms you can’t work. An agency could also determine this in person.
  • You are experiencing homelessness. This includes people who are in a temporary housing situation, such as transitional living arrangements and shelters, a halfway house, or staying temporarily (up to 90 days) at another person’s residence.
  • You are turning 55.
  • You are a veteran. A veteran is a person who served in the United States Armed Forces (including the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, National Guard, and Armed Forces Reserve) and was discharged or released under any condition.
  • You are between 18 and 24 years old, and were was in foster care, a subsidized guardianship, or court-ordered kinship care, when you turned 18.
  • You are living with a child who is under age 18 who is part of the same FoodShare household, even if the child is not eligible for FoodShare benefits.

Have a good cause reason related to the work requirement

  • Your personal health problems, or the health problems of others, caused you to miss hours.
  • You missed hours because of bad weather.
  • You did not have transportation to get to your job or work program.
  • You had a crisis or emergency (death, domestic violence, temporary workplace shutdown).
  • You had legal issues or a required court appearance.
  • You stopped attending a job or work program activity due to discrimination or unreasonable demands.
  • Your jobsite or work program site closed due to a site-specific holiday.
  • You missed hours to observe a religious holiday.

Timing

If it has been less than 30 days since you last got FoodShare benefits, and you were meeting the work requirement, had an exemption, or good cause reason, then your agency can probably get you reenrolled in FoodShare without reapplying. You should contact your agency right away.

If you wait longer than 30 days to get FoodShare back, you’ll have to reapply. You can:

  • Go online using your ACCESS (ACCESS in Spanish) account.
  • Reach out to your agency by phone or coming into the office and we can help.
  • Fill out and mail or fax a paper application.

Questions?

If you have questions about how to get FoodShare again, contact your local agency.

Additional Resources

Glossary

 
Last revised April 17, 2025