Marin food aid recipients get 15% boost in benefits
Four-month increase comes from federal relief package
Marin recipients of government food assistance will see a 15% increase in their benefits for the next four months because of the relief package approved by Congress last month.
That means the monthly CalFresh allotment for a one-person household in Marin will increase to $234, about $7.80 per day. A two-person household will now be eligible for a monthly maximum of $430, or about $14 per day.
The increase averages about $25 more per person per month, or just under $100 per month in food assistance for a family of four.
Also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, CalFresh provides qualified applicants with an electronic benefit transfer card that can be used like a debit card in participating grocery stores and farmers markets.
“We are supportive of both the 15% SNAP increase and President-Elect Biden’s proposal to extend the boost through at least September,” Meg Davidson, director of policy at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, wrote in email Friday.
“The Food Bank continues to respond to the unprecedented levels of need in our community but we can’t do it alone,” Davidson wrote. “The most effective
way to address hunger is to put money in the hands of people who need help purchasing food.”
Davidson said the organization is serving an average of
6,200 Marin households a week through 48 pantries.
CalFresh is available to legal residents whose income is up
to 200% of the federal poverty level. That equates to a gross income of $25,536 for a one-person household in Marin and $52,416 for a family of four.
Davidson said the increase will also help 115 SNAP-authorized retailers by increasing the buying power of local beneficiaries.
Jessica Hurtado, a marketing director for Good Earth Natural Foods in Mill Valley and Fairfax, said customers regularly use benefit cards, but the company doesn’t track the revenue it receives from this source.
Nourish California, a nonprofit advocacy organization, estimates the 15% increase will provide a $1.59 million economic boost to CalFresh recipients in Marin County.
Applications for CalFresh nearly doubled after the coronavirus pandemic struck, increasing from 848 in March to 1,644
in April. They declined steadily to 426 in October before climbing steeply in December.
“The CalFresh program is really a window into what is going on with the economy,” said Kari Beuerman, assistant director of the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services. “When the pandemic and shelter-in-place hit in March, a lot of people were unemployed overnight. There was mass panic so people started applying for benefits, and they qualified because they were without income.”
“Once people began receiving unemployment insurance the numbers tapered off,” Beuerman said. “But then they really spiked again in December because there was all that confusion over whether unemployment benefits were going to end.”
As of November, 8,215 Marin households were receiving federal food assistance through CalFresh, compared to 6,884 households in March.
“The numbers really have gone up considerably,” Beuerman said.
By November, the number of Marin households enrolled in CalFresh had already declined from its peak in June, when 8,928 Marin households were enrolled. June is also the month when the number of coronavirus infections peaked in Marin prior to the latest, even larger surge.
Beuerman said while the pandemic has increased the need for CalFresh benefits, it has made it more difficult to inform the public about the program.
“A lot of the outreach we were doing was in-person type events like health fairs or back-to-school nights,” she said. “Those in-person opportunities don’t exist right now.”
Many immigrants have been discouraged from applying for CalFresh since February, when the Trump administration enacted a rule that denies green cards, or permanent legal status, to migrants who are judged likely to require
public benefits such as Medicaid, housing vouchers or food stamps.
One of President-elect Joe Biden’s campaign promises was to reverse Trump’s “public charge” rule.
Beuerman said the number of Marin residents receiving general relief payments has also increased during the pandemic. The number rose from 499 in February to 817 in December.
The maximum general relief benefit is $387 a month for a single person and $636 a month for married couples. To qualify, applicants may earn no more than the cash aid grant. Their liquid assets cannot exceed $200, and the value of their personal property, with some exceptions, cannot exceed $600.
In March, Marin County supervisors approved changes to the countyfunded program to make it easier for people receiving general relief payments to avoid being suspended from the program, while also facilitating new applications.