VTDigger is posting regular updates on the coronavirus in Vermont on this page. You can also subscribe here for regular email updates on the coronavirus. If you have any questions, thoughts or updates on how Vermont is responding to COVID-19, contact us at coronavirus@vtdigger.org
As unemployment claims pour into the state and residents await their federal stimulus checks, Vermonters are tapping into another way to keep themselves afloat during the Covid-19 crisis: SNAP benefits, commonly known as food stamps.
The number of people applying for new or renewed 3SquaresVT benefits — the state’s branch of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — grew from a weekly average of 390 to more than 2,000 from March 30 to April 3, according to data from the Department for Children and Families, which administers the program.
While the number of new applications has since slowed, with only 698 applications last week, DCF is still noticing a big uptick in calls, said Sean Brown, the deputy commissioner of the department’s economic services division.
Vermont is not alone. While national data is not yet available, states like Georgia, California and Connecticut have reported a rise in SNAP applications. The increase comes as food banks are raising the alarm about increasing demand.
“We’ve always understood that we are supporting the most vulnerable Vermonters,” Brown said.
But Anore Horton, executive director of Hunger Free Vermont, said she believed the number of people applying was “very good news.”
“It means that people suddenly thrown into economic hardship knew it was available as an option,” she said.
She said it concerns her more that many of the people applying to the program may not be eligible because of federal limits on who qualifies by income and other factors.
“There are a lot of people in Vermont right now who are not able to make ends meet, and we want everyone who’s had a change in income to apply for 3Squares and every other benefit available,” she said.
The state has taken new measures to loosen eligibility requirements for 3SquaresVT. They have suspended work requirements and waived in-person interviews. DCF is also allowing a delay for people to show that they have applied for unemployment benefits, since the claims system has reported issues, Brown said.
The federal government has also raised some benefits for people on SNAP benefits. Households will soon get their “full allotment,” meaning the most that the federal government would provide someone of their household size, Brown said.
“So if you’re a one-person household receiving $100 in benefits per month, you can go up to the maximum allowed amount of $194 per month,” Brown said.
Horton said even before the crisis, the benefits level was too low for many families to survive on. Hunger Free Vermont runs a “3SquaresVT Challenge” each year to ask Vermonters to try to live off of the benefit provided by the federal government — about $36 a week for a single person as of November 2019.
The federal government has not changed rules about where recipients can use their SNAP benefits card, called an EBT card. Since people with the card have to physically swipe it at a cash register or terminal, they typically can’t use the cards for online orders — like the grocery delivery apps that many people are using to minimize their contact with others during the Covid-19 crisis.
To try to enable 3SquaresVT recipients to use remote grocery shopping options, DCF is leasing retailers mobile “point-of-sale” terminals starting this week that they can bring to someone’s home during a delivery, Brown said.
Vermont is also one of the few states that has a “cash out” program in place for older Vermonters and those with disabilities to receive their benefits via direct deposit, Brown said. This gives qualified beneficiaries the ability to pay for deliveries or curbside pickups online or through an app.
Horton praised the work of DCF, saying the department had taken advantage of “every possible waiver and provision” available through new federal rules.
State officials are also trying to implement an extension of SNAP payments for families with children on their school’s free and reduced lunch program. DCF is working with the Agency of Education to identify households that had qualified for free and reduced lunch but were not yet on SNAP, so those families can get paid for providing their kids’ extra food.
“We think there are about 14,000 households that are eligible to receive that benefit,” Brown said. DCF hopes to issue those payments in May.
The turnaround time for some to receive benefits has not changed, DCF said. The agency took strict measures at the start of the crisis to make sure they could keep up with demand, including extending their hours and authorizing more overtime for their call center employees.
“We saw ski areas closing early on for Covid and were starting to see an uptick in calls,” Brown said. “So we started implementing those changes early.”
Most applications still start online, but people can walk into a district office and answer questions through the phone in the lobby or through a window, he said.
Despite the rise in applications, the new applications have so far been a small percentage of the 38,500 total people in the state on SNAP benefits, a decline from a post-recession high of 52,000 in 2013, Brown said.
But if the crisis continues far into 2020, the state’s caseload will start to catch up, Brown said.
“There’s always a little delay in our caseload,” he said. “So we’re asking, what will the economy look like three months or six months out?”
Horton said the fact that it is now “easier than ever” to apply is an advantage for the Vermont economy.
“It brings federal dollars into the state for our stores, who really need it right now,” she said.
Vermonters can apply for 3SquaresVT through the DCF website. Hunger Free Vermont also maintains a list of ways to access food during the Covid-19 crisis on its website.
