Rising Prices Hit Home For Food Stamp Recipients

[flashl]

A divorced mother of two, Hall receives $219 a month in food stamps; the fastidious inspection of her cupboards and the dollar-by-dollar addition she does in her head are the only way she can make the allotment last through a month.

At a time when food prices are soaring, a growing number of Americans are struggling financially and local social service agencies are seeing record numbers of applicants, advocates are concerned that the purchasing power of food stamps has shrunk since 1996, when Congress recalculated benefit levels. The result slowed the value of food stamps relative to inflation. If benefits had kept pace with inflation over 12 years, a family with one working parent and two children would be receiving an additional $37 a month, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington-based think tank.

...

For the working poor of the Washington region, stretching the monthly food budget in a sagging economy is particularly difficult, because food prices in the area are consistently higher than the national average, according to the Council for Community and Economic Research, an Arlington County-based group that tracks the cost of living in hundreds of places across the country.

...

The consumer price index for food has increased faster than in two decades, and it is especially grim news for people who rely on government subsidies.

"Food stamps aren't meant to supply all of a family's food, but for many people, it's become a way of life. . . . It's a struggle to make them last," said Reuben Gist, director of advocacy and outreach for the Capital Area Food Bank. He cited a 2006 study by America's Second Harvest, a hunger-relief organization, that found that only 16 percent of food stamp recipients said the allotment lasted them an entire month. "People on food stamps are calling us saying they have no idea what they are going to do."

Washington Post

Soon the propaganda machine will roll out showing how some enterprising soul found a way to survive on less food stamps and live healthy.

[flor de jasmim]

1. I remember Family Circles on how to feed a family of 4 on $10/week

(that was, admittedly, a "while back")

[floridablue]

2. I recall in past years

various politicians (John Ashcroft for one I think) going to live a month on welfare, or unemployment. To date I don't remember any reported success stories that they actually did it.

[flashl]

3. My last memory of similiar claims was a public official living in HUD housing

IIRC reporters learn the official only went to the unit for photo ops.

[floridablue]

4. Wow, that would be great !!

HUD housing, welfare, food stamps. How better off could a family be ?