![]() “DHS understands that this may mean hard choices for many families,” Kristina Iodice, spokeswoman for El Paso County Department of Human Services, said of benefits decreasing. In 2019, 31,774 El Paso County households, amounting to 65,550 people, received food stamps. Last year, 38,241 households representing 77,258 clients in El Paso County participated, according to the local Department of Human Services. More Coloradans are enrolled in the SNAP program now than before the pandemic. “I see that fear of them wondering how are they going to make it when they’re already struggling paying for other things and having to make a decision on basic needs,” Brosa said. ![]() She helps families review household budgets and brainstorm how to cut costs, improve meal planning and access other community assistance. “Now, with the reduction, they’re really scared to be able to provide the meals the kids deserve.” “Even receiving the maximum (allotment) it was difficult,” she said. “We knew it was going to happen at some time,” he said, “but the timing is difficult.”Ī letter detailing the changes will be sent in the mail next week to 290,000 households, or 554,000 people, in Colorado who receive SNAP, according to Urbach.įamilies in Harrison School District 2 who rely on food stamps are concerned about being able to provide adequate meals for their children, said Maria Brosa, student and family support manager with Catholic Charities of Central Colorado. It’s one of the last pandemic-related aids to end, Springer noted. The agency estimates that the average decrease in benefits will be $90 per person each month, or $360 a month for a family of four.įor nearly three years, all recipients could receive the maximum allowable food benefit for their household size, instead of a calculated benefit based on income and expenses, Urbach said. That declaration has continued, but under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, a $1.7 trillion federal spending bill signed into law in late December, the temporary “emergency maximum allotments” to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, also known as food stamps, will be eliminated.Īll recipients will see a reduction in food stamp benefits - anywhere from $95 to $600 monthly - after the February issuance, said Alex Urbach, spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Human Services. State and federal governments approved increased food stamp payments almost three years ago at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, with the intent that they would expire when the pandemic stopped being defined as a public health emergency. “It’s 11% more expensive this year than last January on food prices,” he said.
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