A new law that impacts food stamp eligibility is about to take effect. About half of the more than 200,000 North Carolina residents will be affected beginning in January.
Any childless, able-bodied adult between ages 18 and 49 will now have to meet certain work requirements to keep benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP.
Now, they can receive three months of benefits in a three-year period, but after that, they have two options: work 20 hours a week or volunteer at an established non-profit for the same amount of time.
Elizabeth White, with the Guilford County Department of Social Services, says some programs that provided additional resources for work force training and other support services have either stopped or been scaled back over the past couple of years.
She's concerned about people that have health problems and other issues and they're looking at other ways to fill the gaps.
“There's a lot of discussions in the school systems, public health and DSS on collaborations and efforts that can be put together within the communities to bring these programs back up.”
The changes are part of federal and state reforms for the food stamp program that occurred during the recession when unemployment rates were skyrocketing. North Carolina is one of several states that received a waiver for the requirement from the USDA in 2008.
While the unemployment rate has improved since then, food insecurity is still on the rise in North Carolina. The latest census numbers show 1.6 million residents live below the poverty level.
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