This memorandum supersedes the Oct. 19, 2005 memorandum on Replacement of Commodities due to Natural Disasters.
This guidance applies to the Expanded Disaster Evacuee Policy (Sept. 2, 2005, as modified on Sept. 14, 2005).
This version replaces the guidance published on Sept. 9, 2005. We have clarified that the policy is applicable to evacuees that apply either in September or October 2005, and to households that move within the state. Concurrently, we have revised the Expanded Disaster Evacuee Policy to allow that policy to apply through Oct. 31, 2005.
This version replaces the guidance published on Sept. 2, 2005. It has been revised to extend the application period to the end of October and clarify that normal program rules apply beginning with January 2006 issuances.
Low participation rates among low-income people eligible for food stamp benefits have prompted a number of outreach and public education efforts. In 2002, the Food and Nutrition Service awarded $5 million in grants to community-based organizations in 15 States to investigate how to increase participation among people eligible for food stamp benefits. The evaluation of these grants describes the features and outcomes of these 18 projects.
This policy memo provides clarification on food loss as an eligibility factor for the Disaster Food Stamp Program.
Most discussion of payment accuracy in the Food Stamp Program focuses on the overall level and cost of payment errors. Rarely does the discussion focus on the impact of payment errors on individual households affected. This analysis – based on 2003 food stamp quality control data – leads to two broad conclusions. First, virtually all households receiving food stamps are eligible. Thus, the problem of erroneous payments is not so much one of determining eligibility, but rather one of attempting to finely target benefits to the complicated and changing circumstances of low-income households. Second, most overpayments to eligible households are small relative to household income and official poverty standards. As a result, most food stamp households are poor, and they remain poor even when overpaid.
PL 100-707 authorizes the President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to pay Disaster Unemployment Assistance to any individual unemployed as a result of a major disaster.