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Abstract

Food stamp benefits can provide an important supplement to the income of working families (families with children under 18 and earnings), who now make up nearly 40 percent of program participants. States can take advantage of Food Stamp Program policy options that increase eligibility and benefits. Seven policy options are particularly important for working families: more liberal vehicle rules, expanded categorical eligibility, transitional benefits for families leaving cash assistance, outreach, longer certification periods, reduced reporting requirements, and waivers of the required face-to-face interviews at recertification.

Introduction

The combination of a domestic economic slowdown and the recent worldwide rise in food prices threatens to increase the number of American households experiencing “food insecurity,” which the government defines as lacking access to enough food for an active, healthy life at all times (Nord, Andrews, and Carlson 2007). The same conditions reduce revenues and increase costs for state governments (Dadayan and Ward 2008), leaving them with few resources to alleviate family stress. They can, however, take advantage of state Food Stamp Program (FSP) policy options that increase eligibility and benefits. The state cost of expanding FSP is low because the federal government pays the entire cost of benefits and about half of state administrative expenses.

This brief focuses on the Food Stamp Program options that particularly affect working families, defined throughout as households with earnings and children under age 18. Estimates show that 63.9 percent of the individuals in working families who qualified for benefits actually participated in the program in fiscal year 2006, representing a significant increase over participation earlier in the decade (Wolkwitz 2008).

The brief reviews the changing federal and state program options and their potential effects on working families. This review assesses eligibility rules and participation just after passage of the 2008 Farm Bill, which reauthorizes the program and changes its name.1 The brief also examines the Farm Bill provisions likely to have the biggest impact on participation by working families. It shows changes in the working-family share of program participants over time and differences among racial and ethnic groups and among states. It highlights seven state policy options that are particularly important to working families, research findings about their impact on participation, and the extent to which states have adopted them. The brief ends with a discussion of state FSP policy decisions in the context of the more general devolution of welfare programs from the mid-1990s to the present.

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The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

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