About a quarter of Louisiana food stamp or SNAP recipients will see a decrease in their benefits as a result of a Social Security cost of living benefit increase.
DCFS Secretary for Family Support Sammy Guillory says SSI and veteran’s benefits recipients have received a 1.6% COLA increase for 2020.
“It’s going to affect about 25% of our SNAP households, which is around 95,000 cases, and the average decrease in benefits is about nine dollars,” Guillory said.
The COLA increase will also push 226 cases out of SNAP due to income eligibility.
Guillory says the reason for the decrease is that SSI benefits are viewed as income, and the higher a person’s income, the lower their SNAP benefits.
For example, “Someone who is working and got an increase in their salary would have to be considered, and usually results in either ineligibility for SNAP, or a reduced amount,” says Guillory.
Guillory says the good news is those SNAP recipients are still coming out ahead this year when you balance SSI increases against their SNAP benefit decreases.
“A $20 increase in Social Security might end up being about an $8 dollar decrease in SNAP benefits,” Guillory said.
The change is effective today and will be noticed on the recipients’ first benefits of the New Year.