All You Need to Know About SNAP- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
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Throughout its history the United States stumbled into tough times; The Great Depression of the 1930s, the global financial crisis in the late 2000s, and the recent economic recession brought by the global COVID-19 pandemic are among the events which dented this great nation’s economy.
The economic downturn affected lots of families as it affected jobs and their livelihood, with tight family budgets, their financial capacity to buy healthy and nutritious food has been greatly reduced leading to hunger and malnutrition.
To help these families cope with hardships, the federal government created a food assistance program to help financially struggling families in procuring food needed for healthy and normal lives.
What is SNAP?
Formerly called “food stamps” the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP is a federal government program that helps people buy the food they would need for healthy lives. The program aims to supplement the food budget of needy families across the United States so that they can purchase healthy and nutritious food.
Across the United States, there are 41.5 million people (adults and children) using SNAP to buy food. With SNAP people can stretch their budget as the money they could have spent on buying food would now go to pay for rent, utilities, or medical bills.
The implementation of SNAP in every state is ensured by the Federal Government to be in accordance with civil rights law. In the state of Texas, the SNAP program in Fiscal Year 2021 reached 3.4 million Texans which represents 12% of the population.
History
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, millions of Americans suffered from hunger. In 1939 the federal government in Washington launched the United States Food Stamp program.
Under the program for each cash dollar, an unemployed person will get an orange stamp equivalent to $1 and a blue stamp equivalent to 50 cents. The orange stamp would be used to buy goods in grocery stores. While the blue stamps are used to buy surplus agricultural goods such as eggs, prunes, butter, beans, and cornmeal (how long does cornmeal last?).
The Food Stamps Program was discontinued following economic growth fueled by industrial production during World War II eased unemployment and agricultural surpluses. The program was able to feed 20 million Americans.
It was revived in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, unlike the 1939 food stamp there was no longer a special blue stamp to buy agricultural surplus. During the term of Texan Lyndon B. Johnson, the Food Stamp Program was codified into law known as the Food Stamp Act of 1964.
During President Richard Nixon’s term the food stamp program greatly expanded from three million recipients in 1969 it grew to 15 million American recipients in 1974.
In 1975 the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) established the Thrifty Food Plan which is a set of foods designed to provide a nutritionally adequate diet that low-income households can purchase and prepare. The TFP serves as the basis for the benefits under the SNAP.
From 1988 to 2004 the SNAP transitioned from issuing food stamp coupons to using Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards.
Currency there are about 41.5 million participants in the program in the United States (including the District of Columbia, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. However the commonwealths of Puerto Rico, the Northern Marianas Island, and the territory of American Samoa are excluded from SNAP).
The Purpose of SNAP
The SNAP allows low-income American households to afford more healthy foods and boost the food purchasing capability of the recipients.
Its ultimate goal is to alleviate hunger and malnutrition by enabling low-income households to buy nutritious food.
Aside from preventing hunger, SNAP also benefits the economy. A dollar in SNAP generates around $1.50 in economic activity, particularly in the agricultural sector.
What Foods Are Eligible For SNAP
You can use SNAP to buy any food for the household such as:
Fruits
Vegetables
Dairy Products
Bread and Cereals
Snack foods and non-alcoholic beverages
Seeds and Plants that can produce food for the household to eat.
These items are not eligible for SNAP
Alcoholic drinks such as beer and wine
Tobacco
Vitamins, medicines including supplements. (if an item is labeled as a supplement it is not eligible for SNAP)
Live animals (except shellfish, (What wine goes well with shellfish?) fish removed from the water, and animals that were slaughtered prior to pick-up from the store)
Foods that are hot at the point of sale
Non-food items. (such as pet food, household supplies, cosmetics, and hygienic products).
How SNAP Benefits Are Received
SNAP participants will receive their benefits through their Electronic Benefit Transfer or EBT accounts. The participant will be given a plastic card with a magnetic strip similar to a credit card or a debit card. With the card you can access your SNAP benefits at authorized food retail outlets.
Each card will have a unique Personalized Individual Number or PIN. This will prevent unauthorized use of the card by another person. The SNAP benefits are automatically deposited to the SNAP EBT account every month.
EBT Cards are like debit cards in which you can buy food at authorized stores that sell food. It deducts the cost of food items you purchased from the available benefit amount in your EBT card.
These electronic benefits have made access to these programs easier and more secure.
How To Apply and Register to Get SNAP Benefits
Here in Texas, there is the Texas Simplified Application Project (TSAP) for those who want to avail of SNAP in the state. Though it's a federal funded program, the state can set the requirements for eligibility.
Compared to regular SNAP applications, the TSAP application is shorter and recipients are certified for three years instead of the usual six months. Also, there is no need for an interview during renewal.
Those eligible for TSAP are:
All the members of your household (the people who live with you and purchase and prepare food) are 60 or older, receive disability payments no matter their age, or are a combination of both.
The members of your household are unemployed and have no earned income
No member of your household receives benefits under the SNAP-Combined Application Project (SNAP-CAP).
You can either apply online at Your Texas Benefits official website or visit a local Texas Home and Health Services (HHS) office to get a paper application which you can return either via mail, fax, or deliver in person.
You would need these documents of sensitive information to go with your snap's application:
Copies of recent medical bills or pharmacy statements to verify medical expenses
Award letters or similar statements that verify any pension, retirement or disability income
Bank statements.
Families receiving cash assistance under TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) another Federal-funded program under the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families are also eligible for SNAP.
What is an EBT Card
In the past assistance was in the form of stamps, that is why it’s called food stamps. The development of the Electronic Balance Transfer (EBT) card started in 1988.
The EBT is an electronic system that allows SNAP recipients to transfer their government benefits from a federal account to a retailer account to pay for the food items the recipient had purchased.
It operates like a debit card. Each card has a PIN to prevent unauthorized use by another person. The EBT also prevents food stamp fraud by creating an electronic record of each transaction. The use of EBT cards has reduced cases of trafficking (exchange of food stamps for cash).
SNAP in Texas
One out of nine Texans are SNAP recipients or about 3.4 million Texans, this comprises 12% of the population in the state. Almost 79% of those under Texan SNAP are in families with children and more than 51% are in working families. Around 27% of those under the program in Texas are in families whose members are older adults or are disabled.
Most SNAP recipients in Texas live below the poverty line, 42% of the SNAP recipients have incomes 50% below the poverty line.
According to state data, 13.3% of Texan households are food insecure which means their access to adequate food is hampered by a lack of financial resources.
SNAP made a huge impact as it lifted 703,000 Texans above the poverty line including 369,000 Texan children.
SNAP recipients in Texas received a total of $8.75 billion worth of benefits in 2021, an 83% increase from the $4.77 billion in 2019.
Each recipient household member per month would receive $161 or $5.28 per day. SNAP benefits for 2020 and 2021 are higher than pre-pandemic levels because of temporary pandemic-related benefit increases including emergency allotments.
There are about 20,900 authorized retail locations in Texas where recipients can purchase food items using their EBTC card or the Lone Star card.
The EBT Card was fully implemented in the state in 1995 which replaced the method of food stamp coupons.
With TSAP the SNAP application process in the state is much easier and shorter. ​
Are there Farmer Markets in Texas accepting SNAP
There are many farmer markets in Texas that accept SNAP-related transactions. The Texas Center for Local Food, a non-profit organization aimed at developing local healthy food, has called on SNAP recipients to spend their assistance on farmers' markets.
There is low awareness among SNAP recipients in the state that they can use their EBT cards on these farmers markets. According to statistics from the Texas Center for Local Food, Texas ranked 47th out of 50 states in SNAP sales at farmers' markets.
The Texas Center for Local Food is helping farmers' markets to set up SNAP processing as these are different from normal card processing. We can expect more farmers' markets to accommodate SNAP transactions.
For a guide on what farmers' markets or local food stores in Texas that accept SNAP you can check it out here. There are about 20,900 locations in Texas where you can use SNAP and these include farmers' markets.
SNAP has been a rescue line for millions of low-income Americans, giving them the financial capability to buy adequate food for their families. Aside from combating hunger and malnutrition it also helps the economy, particularly food producers and farmers. Each year SNAP recipients or participants spend roughly $70 billion on SNAP benefits including $22.4 billion at farmers' markets (2017 figures).
In Texas, the federal government has allocated $8.75 billion (2021) for SNAP participants and that could go to the economy, particularly agriculture. There are USDA programs that aim to provide relevant support to recipients and also the agricultural sector. Among these include modernizing the Thrifty Food Plan and updating SNAP benefits to adjust to inflation.
With this, SNAP continues to provide its recipients with much-needed food assistance effectively, and also stimulates the agriculture industry particularly the local farming communities, providing them a market for their produce.
