Report: Thousands Of CT Households On Brink Of Losing Food Benefits

HARTFORD, CT — Tens of thousands of Connecticut residents will lose their food and energy subsidies unless the state steps in to assist them, Social Services Commissioner Andrea Barton Reeves told members of the Appropriations Committee Thursday.

In a 30-minute Powerpoint presentation, Barton Reeves laid out the major changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as a result of of H.R. 1.

Education funding was eliminated as of Sept. 30, Barton Reeves said. In addition, the “Heat & Eat” program that used Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to ease recipients’ SNAP registration difficulties, has new work requirements as of November, Barton Reeves said.

The program is available to SNAP recipients who pay rent that does not include heating and cooling. The future restrictions limit recipients to households with an elderly or disabled member. She estimated 50,000 households would no longer be eligible for the program, and those removed from the program would lose a $100 monthly benefit.

“It lessened the burden on those having to meet specific deductions for the program,” Barton Reeves said. “Think of it as kind of a standard deduction.”

SNAP benefits for non-citizens, beginning in November, will be restricted to lawful permanent residents, Cuban/Haitian entrants, and COFA (Citizens of Free Association) citizens – mainly immigrants from Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau. Refugees, victims of trafficking and domestic violence and Afghan/Iraqi special immigrants are no longer eligible. Special immigrants are those from Afghanistan and Iraq who worked for the U.S. government for more than a year.

H.R. 1 also removes geographic waivers to work requirements. The waivers essentially meant that the state could give a waiver to those who live in municipalities or geographical regions with high unemployment. That change affects about 20,000 households.

“So if we have working parents, people working multiple jobs, … none of those people are eligible anymore,” Barton Reeves said.

Finally, the bill requires states to make payments based on SNAP error rates. Those are situations where due to state or recipient errors the recipient receives an incorrect amount. Connecticut’s error rate this year is 8.7%, below the federal average of just under 10.4% Barton Reeves said.

State Sen. Cathay Osten, D-Sprague, said the state had funds to cover LIHEAP through November, but that the funding would run out just as the state entered the coldest months of the year, Osten said.

“I’m trying to say that, should we go into special session, we may make some qualifications for resources that may ultimately be covered bu the federal government,” she said. “But we have to do this in a mechanism that is there should we need it.”