Benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for residents of the Western Slope will start to decline on March 1 to levels they were before the COVID outbreak.
The shift came about as a result of a recent legislative Omnibus measure that was passed, which put an end to temporary emergency allotments that had been authorized at the start of the pandemic in 2020 nationwide.
“During the public health emergency, if a family was eligible for SNAP assistance, they received the maximum amount for the size of the dwelling, regardless of income,” said Melissa Schierland, director of the Economic Assistance Division at the Mesa County Department of Human Services (DHS).
They will only get the amount of aid that they are income-eligible for starting in March due to the decoupling (of SNAP benefits and emergency pandemic rules).
According to Schierland, Mesa County SNAP participants have gotten letters from the state advising them of the forthcoming change that is being required by the federal government.
She also mentioned that any receiver whose mobile phone number is registered in the county’s database will get a text message containing more details.
The Mesa County DHS Economic Assistance Division is attempting to get used to a return to the previous standard of living with only one month until the shift is put into effect.
In the middle of this rush, any SNAP participants who have not yet gotten their entire allotment of benefits or who do not receive them on time this month will be given backdated assistance.
They will receive such benefits retroactive to the date of eligibility of their application, according to Schierland, if they applied for assistance before the decoupling change in March.
The Mesa County DHS Economic Assistance Division is also working feverishly to make sure that the department’s partners will assist individuals who will be most negatively impacted by the reduction in SNAP benefit allotments.
According to Schierland, “this federal decision will result in a decrease in income coming in through the SNAP program, and that will directly affect many of our families. As a result, we have done a call to action with our community partners — the food banks and the food pantries — to try to increase donations to them.
“We can maybe assist families in filling this gap. A dollar donated to a food bank can provide a family with three meals if they have the purchasing capacity to do so, thus we would want to encourage community members who can do so to do so.
In order to obtain resource and referral information, such as a list of food pantries and food banks in the area and information on their open days and hours, Schierland urges SNAP benefit claimants to get in touch with Western Slope 211. Please visit wc211.org for further details.
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