Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Foodstamp Regulations
I will be moving at the end of the summer to the east coast for grad school. Part of the moving process (for me, at least) is trying to figure out whether or not I'll still qualify for food stamps and how soon I can apply. I know that several of you who read my blog are from states outside of Wisconsin, and I'd like you to share what the regulations are for your states: what you can/cannot buy, what your monthly income has to be, etc.
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When you do your research, you might need to look up "SNAP" instead, since I think the Obama administration changed the name.
ReplyDeleteThe USDA website has links to each state, but that doesn't make it easy - I got in a discussion about whether or not single persons were eligible, wrote to the IL dept that manages it, and they gave me your typical bureaucratic non-answer.
ReplyDeleteThere's a list of state policy websites here, fwiw: http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/rules/Memo/2009/031209.pdf
from my understanding, the guidelines as far as what you can buy do not vary much from state to state. you still cannot buy anything like hot, prepared foods, alcohol or non-food items like soap. the income guidelines are also federally mandated and they are based on the fpl (federal poverty level) so if you qualified in wi and your income doesn't go about 130% of poverty, gross, you should be eligible in your new state. i know in my state, you can do an online preliminary screen to determine if you are eligible.
ReplyDeletelike the poster above said, just because it all looks ok on paper doesn't mean it's going to be that easy. i would contact whatever department runs the program in the state where you are locating.
good luck!