FNS has received feedback from some state agencies and regional offices that the post-disaster review requirements in the newly-revised Disaster Food Stamp Program (DFSP) Guidance may place an undue administrative burden on state agencies as they recover from major disasters.
This memorandum seeks to clarify questions raised by state agencies attending the July Disaster Food Stamp Program (DFSP) training in Biloxi, Mississippi concerning the authorities under which the Food and Nutrition Service may authorize operation of the DFSP.
The report draws on data for households participating in the Food Stamp Program under normal rules and thus does not include information about those who received disaster assistance after the Gulf Coast hurricanes in September and October 2005.
The purpose of this memorandum is to clarify a situation that has arisen in which a state agency is using federal funds to provide Food Stamp Employment and Training (E&T) program services to individuals receiving cash assistance funded by expenditures of state funds that count toward meeting the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) maintenance–of–effort (MOE) requirements.
This report is the final product of a study designed to learn about state Food Stamp Program policy choices and local implementation of these policies after the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. The report presents examples of policies and practices that may have affected client service in the FSP in terms of program accessibility, quality of service and availability of employment and training services, particularly for food stamp recipients that do not receive cash assistance (non-TANF food stamp households).