What you need to know about increased FoodShare benefits in October | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Sam Woods
September 16, 2021
FoodShare benefits are increasing permanently starting Oct. 1. FoodShare can be used to purchase food at grocery stores or at some farmers markets. (File photo by Dwayne Burtin)
Leer en español: Lo que necesita saber sobre el aumento de los beneficios de FoodShare en octubre
FoodShare recipients should see another bump in benefits, starting Oct. 1, that will continue through at least Sept. 30, 2022.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has set a 25% increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, or SNAP, compared to pre-pandemic levels.
However, FoodShare recipients in Wisconsin currently receiving the maximum amount of benefits per month will get only about 6% more benefits per month than they will receive in September.
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This is due to current temporary increases in FoodShare benefits expiring on Sept. 30. This increase began in January and was set to expire at the end of this month.
A breakdown of the maximum amount FoodShare recipients are receiving now compared to what they will receive in October by household size is below:
Recipients receiving less than the maximum amount per month will see their benefits increase by up to 6% compared to now, but the exact amount will vary on factors including monthly income.
Households currently receiving FoodShare are also currently receiving additional emergency benefits that total either an additional $95 or enough to bring them up to the maximum amount for their household size, whichever increase is greater.
This additional benefit is approved monthly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, based both on whether the federal and state public health emergencies are in effect and that one of the following conditions are met:
Currently, both the federal and state public health emergencies are still in effect. However, this is not guaranteed to be true when the program is under review for October.
Elizabeth Goodsitt, communications specialist at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, said in an email that benefit increases are due to cost-of-living adjustments that are conducted annually and are unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cost-of-living adjustments are the first change to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s formula for calculating the cost of food in 45 years.