More Georgians using food stamps, but welfare ranks decline

In an uneven economy — record-low unemployment paired with high inflation — Georgia has witnessed uneven usage of its anti-poverty programs: More people have signed up for food stamps, but fewer are collecting welfare.

Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the formal name for food stamps, peaked during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic in September 2020 at 905,000 Georgia households. Since then, it’s varied, although data the Division of Family and Children Services provided to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows a recent rise.

In June, the most recent numbers available, 778,000 households received about $251 million in food stamps, averaging about $322 per household.

Before the pandemic, food stamp usage had been falling.

That started in 2016, when “work” requirements were reinstated in several Georgia counties ahead of a statewide launch set for April 2020. The federal work rules required “able-bodied adults without dependents” between the ages of 18 and 49 to work at least 20 hours a week or take part in some sort of education or work training.

By 2019, about 600,000 fewer Georgians were receiving food stamps than six years earlier.

But then the pandemic hit, and the statewide rollout was scrapped. The work requirements will remain on hold as long as the federal government determines the country is facing a health emergency.

Meanwhile, welfare — the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program — continues to follow a long trend of declining usage.

In June 2021, 7,358 Georgia households received welfare, according to DFCS data. By June 2022, the number had dropped to 6,190.

That’s down from 33,302 households in 2006, the earliest year for which DFCS could provide data.

Qualifying for TANF is more strict than for food stamps, DFCS officials said.