Food For Thought
Taking a page from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ free- and reduced-price lunch program – latest motto, “We feed anybody, just ask” – the state is easing income restrictions for food stamp eligibility. The Wilmington Star-News has the rundown here. In a nutshell:
The state’s federally funded Food and Nutrition Services program, commonly called food stamps, is currently available to applicants whose gross income is less than 130 percent of the federal poverty level. It will change to gross income less than 200 percent of the poverty level for applications in July.
The change means the gross income limit will rise from $1,127 monthly for an individual to $1,805. For a family of four, it increases from $2,297 to $3,675.
Dean Simpson, the state’s chief of Economic and Nutrition Services, said the economy prompted the division to take advantage of a federal option to ease the qualifications. “People were being laid off. People were really struggling,” she said.
And some people’s unemployment benefits put them above the income threshold, but they still needed help with groceries, Simpson said.
“Households were having to exhaust all of their resources and use all of their unemployment” before qualifying, she said.
The state is also implementing an option that eliminates consideration of an applicant’s financial assets when determining eligibility.
As a result of the changes, which take effect July 1, area Department of Social Services are bracing for an onslaught of new applicants. One more reason, with local agencies already crying foul over Mecklenburg County’s proposed budget reductions, you can almost guarantee the board of commissioners’ tax-and-spend, liberal majority to start clamoring for alternative revenue streams to fill the funding gaps.
After tomorrow’s public hearing on the budget, for which upwards of 75 folks have already signed up to wail, all bets are off.
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