Families receiving food stamps to budget differently after Nov. 1.

Cuts coming to SNAP benefits in November

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/cypresscreek/news/cuts-coming-to-snap-benefits-in-november/article_00ad716a-3caa-11e3-addc-0019bb2963f4.html















Posted: Thursday, October 24, 2013 10:38 am
By Kimberly Sutton

Families receiving food stamps will have to budget differently after Nov. 1.

Texas food banks are rushing to get the word out to food stamp recipients that their benefits will be cut by an average of 7 percent.

Some 400,000 residents of Harris County utilize SNAP benefits, according to the Food Research and Action Center. In Montgomery County, there are more than 36,000 people on food stamps, according to the Texas Food Bank Network.
“Every dollar counts for a family facing hunger,” Texas Food Bank Network CEO Celia Cole said.
The cut in food stamps will be $36 per month for a family of four and $47 for a family of five. It will drain $4.4 million from Montgomery County over the next year, Cole said. “That’s a big impact on retailers, too.”
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or food stamp benefit decrease will be the abrupt end of a temporary increase made available by the 2009 Recovery Act. These funds were designed to help hungry families during the harsh recession and phase out slowly as the economy recovered, Cole said.
Instead, Congress voted in 2010 to cut funding short, creating a Thanksgiving benefit cliff that likely will increase food insecurity nationwide.
“The government shutdown affected (the communication) a little bit,” Cole said.
Notices will be sent out to recipients, but it won’t be a personalized notice, she said.
“And they often don’t read or understand the notices.”
Earlier this summer, the Texas Food Bank Network unveiled a national countdown clock (www.stopthehungerclock.org) to draw attention to the looming benefit cliff.
With just 14 days left, food banks are engaged in a variety of activities to educate and prepare affected clients to absorb the decrease as best they can.
More than half of the 4 million Texas SNAP participants are children. In addition to the November cut, Congress is debating whether to cut $40 billion from SNAP through the farm bill.