Bill slashing food stamp funds worries charities
If it passes, Harris County could lose up to $174 million in federal aid
via:chron.com
Local charities already struggling to provide food for needy families worry that a U.S. Senate bill that cuts $14 billion from the national food stamp program will increase demand for assistance in the Houston area and put more strain on nonprofit groups.
Harris County stands to lose an estimated $174.3 million in federal aid, leaving thousands of poor and low-income families who depend on the monthly stipend to go hungry, said JC Dwyer, state policy director for the Texas Food Bank Network.
“We think this is a huge mistake,” Dwyer said. “The food program is the front line of hunger relief in America. With the cut, the pressure falls to charities that are not equipped to handle it.”
The Senate approved a $26 billion financial aid package Thursday to help state and local governments cover Medicaid payments and avoid teacher layoffs. And it’s doing it by siphoning money from the food stamp program.
The bill calls for rolling back an increase in food stamp benefits provided through last year’s stimulus recovery act. The rollback would save $12 billion and would go into effect in 2014.
The Senate also approved a child nutrition bill late Thursday to enhance the school free lunch program. It will be funded by an additional $2 billion cut from the food stamp program. The reduction was a trade-off with Republicans who wanted to protect a farm conservation program from being cut.
The Texas Food Book Network, the Houston Food Bank and dozens of other local and state charities are imploring U.S. House representatives to vote against the bill. The House is scheduled to vote Tuesday.
More than 524,000 Harris County families are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. A slash in benefits would mean the average Houston family of four would see a $60-a-month reduction in benefits, said Brian Greene, president and CEO of the Houston Food Bank.
30% hike in food requests
“That is flat-out less food available for the children,” Greene said. “I find it contradictory to assist child nutrition and then make significant cuts in food stamps to pay for it. The food stamp program is designed for families with children. It doesn’t make sense.”
The reduction in food stamp funds also will translate into about $321 million in lost stimulus for the Houston-area economy, mainly in the food retail sector, according to USDA economists. Every dollar spent in food stamp benefits generates $1.84 in economic stimulus in terms of jobs and food sales, Dwyer said.
Greene said he anticipates seeing a large number of families who get by with food stamps coming to the food bank in the future for help because they can’t make it with less benefits.
The Northwest Assistance Ministry in Harris County already has seen a 30 percent increase in requests for food over last year because of the recession. The cut in food stamps will only have a greater impact on the organization’s ability to provide food, said Becky Landes, vice president of program services.
Landes said that applications for food stamp assistance in the Houston area are taking longer to process, causing more people to seek help from the ministry’s food pantry.
“Many pantries are having to take on an extra load because of the delay,” Landes said. “If there is a cut, it will be more of a burden on the pantries to fill the gap.”
The reduction, if approved, won’t come for another four years. By then, the economy could be in better shape, but even if it is, there still will be people who need help, advocates said.
“We’re all optimistic that the economy, in time, will get better, but for people who are making low wages, that cut in benefits is still just as real, no matter what the circumstances of the economy,” Greene said.
Tough choices
Nearly 41 percent of families who receive food stamps have incomes at or below the federal poverty line, and only 13 percent have incomes above the poverty line, according to government records. The 2010 poverty threshold is $22,050 a year. A full-time wage earner making minimum wage earns just $15,080 a year, Greene said.
“It’s the low-wage employment that’s driving them to pantries, and that’s why we need a strong food stamp program,” he said.
In a recent Houston Food Bank survey, 62 percent of those surveyed said they had to choose between buying food and paying utilities and 52 percent said they had to choose between buying food and paying rent.
renee.lee@chron.com
