Several Georgia residents are experiencing delays in receiving their benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps many low-income families provide food for their households.
In Georgia, approximately 1.6 million people, or 15% of the population, receive food stamps or SNAP benefits. The average payment per household member per month is $188.
BIDEN FACES PROSPECT OF UPS STRIKE WHILE CONSOLIDATING UNION SUPPORT
Residents of Georgia are scheduled to receive benefits from June 5-23. However, many recipients are reporting that they have been waiting months to receive their SNAP benefits.
The Georgia Department of Human Services released a statement to WRDW stating that federal regulators were the cause for the delay and that it is working “as quickly as possible” to get all applications and renewals processed.
“We are also being hampered by federal rules and requirements which prevent us from streamlining this process. Senior leadership has met with and urged our federal regulators to approve several waivers that would allow us to process cases faster through new technology and automation,” the department said.
The department said federal regulators denied the state a waiver that would have allowed for technology that could assist with on-demand SNAP interviews, similar to processes it uses for other federal welfare programs such as Medicaid.
“Though we have communicated with our federal counterparts frequently and urged them to grant these waivers multiple times, many of them have remained pending for about a year,” the Georgia DHS said. “Nonetheless, we continue to explore ways to secure more flexibility from our federal regulators to process cases more quickly and efficiently.”
The Georgia DHS said its staff completed 84,420 SNAP renewals in May. Customers can quickly check their application or renewal status by logging into their Georgia Gateway account at gateway.ga.gov.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
SNAP benefits are calculated based on household income and size. The recipient’s household income generally must be at or below 130% of the poverty line. In fiscal 2023, the poverty line used to calculate SNAP benefits is $1,920 a month.
An average monthly SNAP benefit for a household of three is $577, with a maximum of $740. An average payment for a household of eight is $1,150, with a maximum of $1,691. Any household higher than eight can be calculated by adding a maximum of $211 per additional person.
