The Food Stamps Program: An Overview
CONTENTS
Link to Maine Food Stamp Certification Manual (official program rules)
What is the Food Stamp Program?
The Food Stamp Program gives people with low income help with buying food. Each month people receive
Food Stamp benefits in a Food Stamp account. The program gives them a card, like a debit card
from a bank, which they can use to buy food at grocery stores. Almost all people with low income are
eligible for Food Stamps. You do not have to live with children, be on welfare, or be elderly or
disabled to get food stamps. Many people work and get Food Stamps.
What can I buy with my
Food Stamp card?
You can use your Food Stamp card (called "The Pine Tree Card") to buy food at most grocery stores and supermarkets. You can
buy almost all foods with Food Stamps. You cannot use your Food Stamp card to buy tobacco, soap, toothpaste, paper products, pet food, alcohol,
or other non-food products. Each time you buy food with your card, the cost is deducted from your Food Stamp account. Your account balance will
be on your receipt.
How do I
apply?
You can get a Food Stamp application from your
local office of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
Be sure to complete and turn in
your application as soon as possible. The sooner you apply, the more Food Stamps you will get in the
first month. Your worker will
need to see your pay stubs, proof of any other income, rent or mortgage payments, utility bills,
child care bills, and any child support orders (the court order and cancelled checks).
Generally, you must have a “face-to-face” interview with a DHHS worker
when applying for Food Stamps. However, there are times when you do not have to have a "face-to-face" interview.
These are some examples of when you don't need a "face-to-face" interview:
- It is a hardship for you (and the other adults in your household) to get to the DHHS office because of
transportation, bad weather, or other problems;
- There is a health problem with traveling;
- Your work or training schedule interferes with a face-to-face interview; or
- Everyone in your home is over age 60 or gets disability benefits.
Let your worker know that you cannot make it for a "face-to-face" interview and ask for a
telephone interview instead.
How quickly will I get food stamps? What if
I need help right away?
You should usually get your Food Stamps within 30 days of the day you apply.
However, if you do not have Food Stamps and need to get them right away, then you may be able to get
Food Stamps within 1 or 2 working days of when you apply. You must be able to prove your identity to get
emergency Food Stamps.
Your household is considered to be in an “emergency” if:
- your gross monthly income is less than $150, and your liquid assets are $100 or less; OR
- your gross monthly income and liquid resources are less than your monthly rent/mortgage and
utilities; OR
- you are a migrant farmworker household with less than $100 in liquid resources, and you got all
of your income for the month before you applied for Food Stamps from a job you no longer have, and you do not
expect to get more than $25 from any new source of income for at least the next 10 days.
What is a Food Stamp household?
You apply for Food Stamps as a household. A household can be a person living alone, or a group
of people living together (whether or not they are related). If people in the home buy their food together
and make meals together, then everyone is in the same "household."
However, if you do not buy your food together and do not make your meals together, then you might be separate
Food Stamp households. There can be more than one Food Stamp household living under the same roof.
Your amount of Food Stamps is based on the income and assets of the members of your household.
Husbands and wives, and parents and children, 21 and under, who live together are considered to be in the same
household even if they do not buy and make meals together.
Can legal non-citizens get Food Stamps?
Yes, in Maine non-citizens can receive Food Stamps as long as they are living in this country legally
and are otherwise eligible.
Can drug felons get Food Stamps?
Under federal law, people with drug-related felony convictions are usually not
allowed to get TANF or Food Stamps. However, in Maine drug felons are able to get
TANF and Food Stamp help. Drug felons can also get the employment and education services offered by
ASPIRE.
Without this help, it could
be very difficult for people with these convictions to overcome addiction, raise their children, and find work.
Are there some people who
sometimes cannot get Food Stamps?
Yes. However, there are often exceptions to these rules.
Below is a list of people who, generally, are not eligible. However, even
if it looks like you may not be eligible from this list, it is always best to apply to be certain.
You may fit within one of the many exceptions to these rules and be able to get Food Stamps. Also,
even if someone cannot get Food Stamps, others in the household may be able to.
Here is a partial list of people who, as a general rule, can not get food stamps:
- People who quit work without a good reason or do not follow the Food Stamp work
- Students enrolled half-time or more in a college. However, students may be able
to get food stamps if they:
-
work 20 hours a week, or
are getting federal work-study money, or
-
are under 18 or over 50, or
-
are physically or mentally unfit to both work and go to school, or
-
are getting TANF cash assistance, or
-
are taking care of a child, under 6 or
-
are a full time student and a single parent with a child under 12 or
-
cannot find adequate child care for a child between 6 and 12, or
- are going to school through contact with one of the following programs: the Workforce Investment
Act (through your local "one-stop"
Career Center), the Trade Readjustment Act (also through your local
"one-stop" Career Center),
ASPIRE, Parents as Scholars, or most other state or local employment and training
programs
- People who are on strike, unless they were eligible for Food Stamps before the strike or have
been locked out or permanently replaced.
What are the Food Stamp work requirements and
who must comply with them?
Even if your income and assets are low enough to get Food Stamps, you may have to register for work to
get them. You may also have to be in an education and training program.
You may also be penalized if you quit a job or refuse to take a suitable job that the Food Stamp office
finds for you.
You are not required to meet these requirements if:
- you live in parts of the state that have high unemployment;
- you are under 16, or are 16 or 17 and not the head of a household;
- you are 60 or over;
- you have a physical or mental problem that makes you unable to work;
- you are caring for a child under 6;
- you are caring for a child 6 or older or an adult who needs help taking care of him or herself;
- you are already working 30 hours a week or are earning at least $175.50 (gross) per week;
- you are a migrant or seasonal farmworker and will begin work in 30 days;
- you are getting unemployment compensation or TANF; or
- you are a student enrolled at least half time in any school, training program or college and
otherwise qualify for Food Stamps.
In addition, you do not have to take a job if:
- it pays less than the minimum wage ($7.00 per hour);
- it is dangerous to your health or safety;
- you can’t get there because of transportation
problems;
- there is a strike or lockout at the job;
- you would be required to join or quit a union; or
- the work violates your religious beliefs.
You also do not have to take a job that is not
the kind of work you have done before, if you have been registered for work with the program for less
than 31 days.
How many assets can I have and still get Food Stamps?
Families with Children: If you have minor children in your household who are related to you,
your assets will not be counted against you in the Food Stamp program.
All others: Households with a disabled member or a member age 60 or older may
have up to $3,000 worth of assets and still qualify for Food Stamps. Other households may have up to
$2,000.
Assets are money or property. This includes things like cash, money in the bank, stocks,
inheritances, and the cash value of an Individual Retirement Account (IRA).
Assets also include cars, trucks, boats, land, buildings and other valuable property.
Some assets don’t count for getting Food Stamps.
You can have the following
assets and still get Food Stamps:
- your home and the land it sits on;
- real estate that is not your home and that you are making a good faith effort to sell;
- your personal belongings and household furnishings;
- the cash or face value of life insurance and pension funds;
- tools, equipment, livestock, buildings and other things you use to make money;
- any assets of someone who gets SSI or TANF;
- things that you can’t sell for a significant return, like property that you own with several
other people; and
- some vehicles (see below).
How does my car affect my eligibility for Food Stamps?
| If you are caring for a minor child at home or household members get SSI,
your car(s), like other assets, will not
affect your Food Stamps. |
Even if you do not have a minor child at home, each eligible adult in the household
can have a car without affecting your eligibility for Food Stamps. Also, DHHS
will not count any vehicle that:
- you live in;
- you use to make a living (like a fishing boat or a taxi);
- you use to travel long distances so that you can work—like a car belonging to a
travelling salesperson, but not a car that you use for commuting every day; or
- you use to transport a physically disabled member of your household.
Part of the value of other vehicles may count toward the asset limit.
How much income can I have and still get Food
Stamps?
DHHS will not count all of your income.
Some income may not count at all, and some expenses will be deducted from your income in setting the amount of
Food Stamps that you will get.
SSI and TANF households are automatically eligible for Food Stamps, but the amount they get will depend
on their
situation.
Pine Tree Legal posts a food stamps estimator, to help you figure
out what your monthly allotment should be.
What income does not count?
This is a partial list of income that DHHS will not count in deciding whether you can get
Food Stamps:
- anything not in the form of money, like free food or clothing, public housing subsidies,
school lunch, or WIC benefits;
- most “vendor payments” (money that someone else who is not in your household pays directly
to someone who gives your household a service, like a friend who pays your rent directly to the
landlord);
- money earned by a child under 18 who is in school at least part time;
- money from charity that you don’t get on a regular basis if it is less than $300 in 3 months;
- most loans;
- student aid received under the federal Higher Education Act, like Pell Grants and most work study;
- reimbursement for expenses, like reimbursement from an agency for transportation, or from your
employer for the purchase of special work clothes;
- most work or business expenses when you are self employed;
- lump sum payments you don’t get regularly like tax refunds, earned income tax credits, and
retroactive benefit payments like SSI. (These payments may be treated as assets either immediately
or after a period of time).
What are the income limits for Food Stamps?
If your household does not include an elderly or disabled member or a minor child
you must meet
both a gross and net income test to get Food Stamps. If your household does
include an elderly or disabled member or a minor child, you only have to meet a
net income test. "Gross income" means all income before any deductions. "Net
income" means gross income minus allowable Food Stamp program deductions described below.
Until September 30, 2008 the gross and net income limits are:
People in
Household |
Gross Income |
Net Income |
| 1 |
$1,107 |
$851 |
| 2 |
$1,484 |
$1,141 |
| 3 |
$1,861 |
$1,431 |
| 4 |
$2,238 |
$1,721 |
| 5 |
$2,615 |
$2,011 |
| 6 |
$2,992 |
$2,301 |
| 7 |
$3,369 |
$2,591 |
| 8 |
$3,746 |
$2,881 |
What expenses can you deduct from income?
At this time (December 2007) the following amounts will be deducted from your
income in determining eligibility for Food Stamps. These deductions will reduce your "gross
income" to your "net Food Stamp income."
- 20% of any gross earned income;
- a standard deduction of $134 for a household of from 1 to 3 members;
$143 for a household of 4; $167 for a househlod of 5; and $191 for a household of 6 or more;
- medical expenses over $35 a month for elderly (over 60) and disabled household members only;
- dependent care costs needed for training, education or work, but no more than $200 a month for
each child under age 2 and no more than $175 for each other dependent;
- legally owed child support payments actually paid;
- a portion of your shelter costs; and
- other types or amounts of income may also not count.
If I am eligible, how much will my family get
in the program?
This table shows the most any family can get if it has no other income . As your income goes
up, your Food Stamps go down by roughly $1 for each $3 dollars you get.
| People in Household |
Maximum Monthly Food Stamp Amount |
| 1 |
$162 |
| 2 |
$298 |
| 3 |
$426 |
| 4 |
$542 |
| 5 |
$643 |
| 6 |
$772 |
| 7 |
$853 |
| 8 |
$975 |
Current through September 2008
Should I apply for Fuel Assistance? (This my help you to get more Food Stamps!)
Yes. People who apply for and get
fuel assistance (the HEAP or LIHEAP program) may get more Food
Stamps. This happens because getting HEAP - even a small amount such as $5.00 - shows that you pay for part of
your
heating costs. People who pay part of their heating costs get more Food Stamps than those who don't
pay for heating.
Should I apply for Fuel Assistance even if I live in Subsidized Housing?
Yes. If you live in Public Housing or use a Section 8 voucher for your housing, you should still
apply for HEAP. It doesn't matter whether you pay for heat separately or if it's included in
your rent.
Getting even just $5.00 in HEAP may increase your Food Stamps. So, it is worth applying for HEAP!
To apply, contact your local
Community Action Program.
What if DHHS tells me I’m not eligible,
or I don’t get the amount of Food Stamps that I think I should?
If you disagree with any decision that DHHS makes about your Food Stamps, you can ask for a Fair Hearing.
You will get a written notice from DHHS telling you how much you are eligible for, or that you are not eligible.
You will also get a notice any time DHHS plans to cut your Food Stamps. If you disagree with what they say,
you have 90 days from the date of this notice to ask for a Fair Hearing. If your Food Stamps are being cut,
you can stop the cut until there is a decision from a Fair Hearing. You must ask for a hearing within 12 days
of the date on the notice. (This will not work if your Food Stamp certification period is ending.)
A Fair Hearing is an informal meeting between you, your worker and an impartial Hearing Officer.
You have a right to be represented at your fair hearing by anyone you choose. If you want legal help with
your fair hearing, Pine Tree Legal Assistance may be able to help you.
Get a list of Pine Tree offices and how to contact them.
