Number of Americans using food stamps rises

McClatchy Newspapers

FORT WORTH, Texas — Krystal Follet’s husband left her in January. Her boss fired her in March. Her landlord gave her an eviction notice two weeks ago.

A tough year for someone with two children to feed.

Follet has turned to food stamps. The 31-year-old Arlington woman is among millions of Americans applying for government help to get enough to eat.

“I don’t know how I would have fed them,” Follet said. “Even when I worked, it was a struggle trying to get everything paid.”

The number of people on food stamps has been increasing for months. In June, the figure was 28.6 million, according to the government.

The only other time so many Americans have been on food stamps was in late 2005, when great numbers of people applied for emergency food stamps after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Food stamp eligibility is based on income. Households with no income receive the most benefits. Households with incomes at 130 percent of the federal poverty line — a household of three making $22,900 a year, for example — get the least benefits.

Changes that will make more households eligible for benefits are coming with new federal legislation effective today.

For the first time, people will be able to deduct all child-care costs when calculating their income, and they will not be penalized for having retirement accounts, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C.

Additionally, the standard deduction on the food stamp application will be indexed for inflation. The minimum benefit will increase from $10 to $14 per month and will also be indexed for inflation.

Experts and recipients said the increase many will see in benefits is needed because food stamps are not enough to get by on.

Dottie Rosenbaum, a senior policy analyst at the budget center, said the complicated formula that determines how much money people receive has a maximum benefit of $1.60 per meal per person.

“But that’s not what most people get,” she said. “They get close to a dollar and a quarter a meal.”

Some food stamp recipients said they get extra meals from food pantries and church dinners.

Karen Johnson, 54, of Hurst said the $81 a month she gets in food stamps is not enough for her and her 17-year-old daughter.

“Sometimes I have to ask somebody to buy me a little food or something,” she said. “I just hate that. I hate to ask people: ‘Can I have some bread? Can I have some hamburger meat?’ It’s kind of rough on me sometimes.”

Harry Draper, 51, who lives from “one shelter to the next” in Fort Worth, said he can make his $162 allotment last and have $5 or $10 left by the end of the month. “I try to stretch it out,” he said.

Lavoria Murphy of Fort Worth, who lives with her 8-year-old granddaughter in a small rental house, vigorously studies sales and clips coupons to stretch her $45 allotment.

“I can’t shop like other people. It’s good to eat healthy, but if healthy stuff is not on sale, you can’t buy it,” she said. “If you’re on food stamps, you don’t have the luxury.”