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of participation of any benefits program, nearly 20 percent of eligible individuals do not <br />participate in the Supplementary Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).125 In other cases, <br />policies like public charge and asset testing can discourage otherwise eligible households.126 <br />While the gap between households that need assistance and the number of households <br />participating in public benefit programs has always existed, narrowing that gap and ensuring <br />households receive the support they need is critical in mitigating the negative economic impacts <br />of the pandemic. <br />Public Comment: Treasury has also received feedback from recipients and stakeholders <br />noting the need to increase awareness and uptake of assistance programs, including gaps that <br />remain in enrollment of eligible households in programs to address the negative economic <br />impacts of the pandemic.127 <br />Treasury Response: Treasury has determined that this impact of the pandemic is widely <br />experienced across many jurisdictions and programs or services to increase awareness and <br />uptake of assistance programs would respond to the pandemic's negative economic impact in all <br />communities. As such, in the final rule, this use is eligible for any impacted household or class of <br />households, not only in disproportionately impacted communities. <br />125 United States Department of Agriculture, Trends in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Participation <br />Rates: Fiscal Year 2016 to Fiscal Year 2018 (May 2021), https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/resource- <br />files/Trends2016-2018 .pdf. <br />126 Jeremy Barofsky et al., Spreading Fear: The Announcement Of The Public Charge Rule Reduced Enrollment In <br />Child Safety -Net Programs, Health Affairs (October 2020), <br />https ://www.healthaffairs. org/doi/full/ 10.13 77/hlthaff.2020.007 63 . <br />127 See, e.g., U.S. Department of the Treasury, By ZIP Code: Number of Children under Age 18 with a Social <br />Security Number Who Are Not Found on a Tax Year 2019 or 2020 Tax Return but who Appear on a Tax Year 2019 <br />Form 1095 and Associated Number of Policy Holders (June 2021), <br />https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/ 131 /Estimated-Counts-of-Children-Unclaimed-for-CTC-by-ZIP-Code- <br />2019.pdf. <br />93 <br />