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Center for Social Policy
McCormack Graduate School
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393
Phone: (617) 287 5550
Fax: (617) 287 5544
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State Residents Among Least Likely to Seek Food Stamps
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Author(s):
David Abel, Globe Staff
Source(s):
Boston Globe, Page: B3 Section: Metro/Region
Date: September 8, 2002
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Fewer than 40 percent of state residents eligible for food stamps apply for them,
ranking Massachusetts near the bottom of states using the multibillion-dollar federal
program, according to a University of Massachusetts study released Friday.
The Commonwealth's low participation rate - only Nevada has fewer residents taking advantage
of the program - means the state is losing more than $100 million a year that could be pumped
into the economy, food stamp advocates say. The report, "Food Stamps: Available But Not
Easily Accessible," suggests only 39 percent of more than a half million state residents
eligible for food stamps receive them. The numbers represent a decline since a survey three
years ago by the US Department of Agriculture found food stamp use in Massachusetts fell 26
percentage points between 1994 and 1999 - a significantly steeper decline than the national
average.
Nationally, about 57 percent of those eligible for food stamps in 1999 used them, a 17
percentage-point drop since 1994, according to the Agriculture Department's most recent
numbers.
"The problem in Massachusetts is that people face a lot of barriers and hassles in getting
food stamps," said Michele Kahan, an author of the study and a senior research associate at
UMass-Boston's Center for Social Policy. "The consequences mean more hunger in the state."
As the economy sputters and the state's budget crisis continues, advocates worry the problem
may only get worse.
They cite several reasons for their concern: This summer, the Legislature cut money for a
hunger hot line that helped nearly 29,000 residents obtain food last year, most through food
stamps. And last month, the state Department of Transitional Assistance, which administers
the food stamp program, announced it is closing more of its offices and cutting 9 percent of
its staff, many of them desperately needed bilingual social workers.
"The participation rate in the food stamp program is something the department is certainly
concerned about," said Todd Maio, deputy commissioner of the department, which now provides
food stamps to about 117,000 households. "We have to make sure the numbers improve."
To do that, Maio said the agency has made some changes in the past year. In October, the
department plans to introduce a shorter, easier-to-complete application. Soon after, it
plans to extend sending food stamps to welfare recipients for five months after their cash
aid ends.
To be eligible, a single adult must earn less than $931 a month and a family of three can
earn no more than $1,585. To increase the number of food stamp users, the government will
increase their value. The maximum in food stamps a single adult can receive now is $135 a
month. For a family of three, it's $356.
Though the state plans to send more information to potential food stamp recipients and allow
more residents to apply by mail, advocates don't think the department is doing enough.
"For too long now, the message from the state has been that it's wrong to seek assistance,
that it's only lazy people who seek assistance," said Ellen Parker, executive director of
Project Bread, which requested the UMass study. "We have given up federal dollars and,
instead, have made people feel ashamed to ask for help."
Of those surveyed in the study, nearly one-third of food stamp applicants said they weren't
treated with "full respect," and more than 40 percent had to wait for more than an hour
before seeing a social worker at a state office. For immigrants, most didn't have any
assistance from a translator.
The study based its results on interviews with hundreds of food stamp-eligible residents
who called Project Bread between November 2001 and January 2002.
With food providers across the state reporting substantial increases in the amount of food
being requested - in some cases, 75 percent more than last year - advocates believe it's
time the state takes more concrete action to persuade those eligible that it's better for
them to use food stamps than to visit soup kitchens.
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