# Presentation: 123774

## Food Stamp Program 

- Issues in Accessing Food Stamps
**Vicky Robinson**
**January 27, 2004**

## Objectives

- To understand the history of the Food Stamp Program
- To learn basic program eligibility
- To identify and begin to resolve the barriers that homeless families face

## Program History

-    The original Food Stamp Program (FSP) was designed:
- To reduce hunger among the poor
- To reduce farm surpluses.
-     The original FSP lasted about 4 years from May 16, 1939 to Spring of 1943 and served approximately 20 million people in nearly half of the counties in the U.S.—peak participation was 4 million—at a total cost of $262 million.

## Program History 

- Program History

-    **Pilot Food Stamp Program - ***May 29, 1961-1964*
- In fulfillment of a campaign promise he made in West Virginia, President Kennedy's first Executive Order called for expanded food distribution and, on Feb. 2, 1961, he announced that food stamp pilot programs would be initiated.
- 	By January 1964, the pilot programs had expanded from eight areas to 43 in 22 States with 380,000 participants.

##  Program History 

-  Program History

-    **Food Stamp Act of 1964 ***- August 31, 1964*In order to bring the pilot FSP under Congressional control and to enact the regulations into law, President Johnson requested Congress to pass legislation making the FSP permanent.  Major provisions included the:
- Requirement that recipients purchase their food stamps and what they could purchase with stamps (no alcohol or imported foods)*
- Prohibition against discrimination on bases of race, religious creed, national origin, or political beliefs
- Division of responsibilities between States (certification and issuance) and the Federal Government (funding of benefits and authorization of retailers and wholesalers), with shared responsibility for funding costs of administration.

##  Program History

-  Program History

**    ****The Food Stamp Act of 1977**Major provisions included the:
- Elimination of the purchase requirement
- Establishment of statutory income eligibility guidelines at the poverty line
- Elimination of the requirement that households must have cooking facilities
- Recipients' right to submit applications the first day they attempt to do so
- 30-day processing standard and inception of the concept of expedited service (getting benefits fast—within 7 days).

##  Program History 

-  Program History

**     ****The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA)—**
- Placed a time limit on food stamp receipt of three out of 36 months for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) who are not working at least 20 hours a week or participating in a work program
- Provided additional Employment and Training (E&T) funds targeted toward providing work program opportunities for ABAWDs
- Allowed States to exempt up to 15 percent of the estimated number of ABAWDs who would otherwise be ineligible.

## Program History 

- Program History

**     ****The Farm Bill of 2002—Reauthorization of the FSP **
**     **Changes were made to simplify the FSP and to increase program access, including:
- Simplified determination of housing costs—allows States to use a standard deduction from income of $143 per month for homeless households with some shelter costs
- State option to reduce reporting requirements—allows States to extend semi-annual reporting to all households not exempt from periodic reporting
- State option to implement transitional food stamps—allows States to extend food stamps 3-5 months to eligible households that leave TANF
- Employment and training provision—authorizes $90 million for E&T funding and up to $20 million in additional funding for States that pledge to offer work slots to unemployed, childless adults who are subject to the 3-month time limit (ABAWD) provision.

## Definition of Homeless 

*    *For the Food Stamp Program, a homeless individual is an individual who lacks a fixed and regular nighttime residence or an individual whose primary nighttime residence is:
- A supervised shelter that provides temporary accommodations
- A halfway house or similar institution that provides temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized
- A temporary accommodation for not more than 90 days in the residence of another individual
- A place not designed for, or ordinarily used, as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (a hallway, a bus station, a lobby or a similar place).

## Who is Homeless? 

-     According to the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP), a  survey conducted of 27 major U.S. cities by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that, of those that were homeless:
- 40 percent are families with children
- 67 percent are single-parent families
- 40 percent are single men
- 39 percent are mentally disabled
- 34 percent are drug or alcohol dependent.

## Who is Hungry? 

- Who is Hungry?

-     According to the Urban Institute:
- 28 percent of homeless clients say they sometimes or often do not get enough to eat
- 20 percent eat one meal a day or less
- 39 percent say that in the last 30 days they were hungry but could not afford food to eat
- 40 percent went one or more days in the last 30 days without anything to eat because they could not afford food
- Only 37 percent of homeless households receive food stamps.

##  Filing an Application

- To file an application (start the application process) all that is needed is a:
- Name
- Address
- Signature.

##  Expedited Service

-  Expedited Service

- All applicants must be screened for expedited service at the time they apply for benefits.  Households eligible for expedited service get benefits within 7 days from the date of application. Households are eligible for expedited service if they:
- Have less than $150 gross monthly income and liquid resources of no more than $100; or
- Are a destitute migrant or seasonal farmworker household and have liquid resources of no more than $100; or
- Have combined monthly gross income and liquid resources of less than the household’s monthly shelter costs.

##  Eligibility Requirements

-  Eligibility Requirements

- To qualify for Food Stamp Program benefits, most households must meet certain resource and income limits:
- _Resource limit_—$2,000 ($3,000 if a member is 60 or older or disabled)
- Cash, bank accounts, IRAs, bonds
- Nonexempt vehicles (exclude first $4,650 of FMV)
- House or personal effects are not counted as resources *
- _Income limits_—vary according to household size
- Gross monthly income - 130 percent of poverty ($1,994 for 4 in FY ‘04)
- Net monthly income - $100 percent of poverty ($1,534 for 4)  (Net is gross, less allowable deductions)

##  Benefits

-  Benefits

- _Benefit level_
- Maximum allotment based on Thrifty Food Plan (gives $471 for 4)
- Deduct 30 percent of net income from maximum allotment
- A household with $0 net income gets the maximum benefit
- FSP - Fact Sheet on Resources, Income, and Benefits
- _Benefit issuance_
- Households eligible for FS get their benefits through an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card
- Bost and EBT Card
- FSP - Food Stamp Program State-by-State EBT Map

## Access Issues

-       The issues that homeless families face in accessing the Food Stamp Program occur on  three basic levels:
- Client level
- Service level
- Policy level.

## Access Issues—Client Level

-      Client level issues in accessing food stamps include:
- Lack of identification
- Lack of mailing address
- Lack of transportation
- Lack of information about the program
- Low literacy level.

## Access Issues—Service Level

-       Service-level access issues include:
- Complex, lengthy applications that are difficult for clients to complete
- Not screening for expedited service or issuing expedited benefits
- Misapplication of policy such as:
- Applying ABAWD policy to a disabled person
- If an ABAWD, not putting homeless client under 15% ABAWD exemption or Labor Surplus Area waiver
- Pending case for verification that’s not needed to determine eligibility (such as a photo ID).

## Access Issues—Service Level

-       Service-level access issues include:
- Incorrectly denying benefits because the client:
- Lacks a permanent address; or
- Resides in a shelter that provides meals
- Doesn’t have a photo ID
- Lack of sensitivity of some caseworkers.

## Access Issues—Policy Level

-       The primary access issue at the policy level is that federal regulations prohibit the purchase of hot foods and hot food products prepared for immediate consumption.  It would take an act of Congress to change this rule.
-       Currently, some homeless clients can purchase hot food through restaurants that are authorized meal providers.  To become a homeless meal provider, restaurants contract with the appropriate State agency to serve meals to homeless persons at low or reduced prices.*  However, very few restaurants in the U.S. are authorized meal providers.

- *Examples of reduced prices include, but are not limited to, a percentage reduction, a set dollar amount reduction, a daily special meal, or an offer of a free food item or beverage (excluding alcohol).

## Improving Access

- _Service Level:_
- Shorten and simplify application forms
- Issue expedited benefits the same day client applies
- Train staff on correct FS policy -
- IDs that are acceptable
- Clients residing in shelters that provide meals can get FS
- Take advantage of available exemptions or waivers
- Improve outreach

- A State’s best practice:  New Hampshire has a nutrition education brochure that teaches homeless people what they can buy with food stamps that doesn’t require a stove to prepare or a refrigerator to store. The brochure is provided in places where homeless people congregate, such as soup kitchens, food pantries, and emergency shelters.
- NH also has a bookmark slip of paper that states boldly **“YOU DON’T NEED AN ADDRESS TO APPLY FOR FOOD STAMPS.  CALL 1-800-852-3345 EXTENSION 4238”. **  As Community Action Agency homeless outreach workers find homeless campsites or people on the streets, they leave this slip.

## Improving Access

-        _Policy Level_—Policies already in place that States can take advantage of include:
- Simplified housing costs for homeless people—allows States to use a homeless shelter deduction of $143 for homeless households with some shelter expenses http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/rules/Memo/Support/03/State_Options/second/simplified-housing.htm  (Ohio & South Carolina have since been added)
- Waivers—can waive the ABAWD time limit if the client lives in an area that has an unemployment rate over 10 percent or an insufficient number of jobs (e.g. designated as an LSA or average unemployment rate is 20 percent above the national average for a 24-month period)

- Coming Soon:  FNS Homeless Access Guide!

## Improving Access

-        _Policy Level_—Policies already in place that States can take advantage of include:
- Exemptions—15% ABAWD, disability, drug and alcohol, and others
- Semiannual reporting (SR)—allows States to extend semi-annual reporting of changes to all households not exempt from periodic reporting. SR Households only have to report when income exceeds the gross income limits.
- ************************************************
**Relevant Links—**
- 	FNS:  http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/default.htm
- 	Informational materials:  http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/info.htm

- Coming Soon:  FNS Homeless Access Guide!

## Questions & Comments