513.241.9400

Contribute

SNAP Emergency Allotments are Ending!

February is the last month for SNAP Emergency Allotments

Everyone on SNAP has been getting an extra payment each month called the Pandemic Emergency Allotment.  You get this payment over the last weekend of each month.

The Emergency Allotments were approved to help people through the pandemic.  The Federal Government decided that those payments will stop.  The last month that you will get an Emergency Allotment is February.

Starting in March, you will only get one SNAP payment each month. You will get the SNAP payment that you were approved to receive from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (JFS).  Your SNAP payment will continue to come on your load date each month.

Here are a few important things that we want you to know:

  • If you are paying more in rent, utilities or child care, and you have not reported that change to your county JFS, you should do that immediately. If you pay more in rent, utilities, or child care, you may qualify to get more SNAP each month.  If you report an increase in these expenses, JFS will send you a notice asking you to get them verification.  You will have to turn in rent or child care receipts, a new lease, or utility bills showing that your costs have increased.   You can report changes by calling your County JFS office, or using the Self-Service Portal on the ODJFS website: Self Service Portal Home Page (ohio.gov).
  • Our community food banks and pantries are doing their best to make sure that they will have food available for people who need it. You can find out more information by going to your local pantry, or looking on the FreeStore Foodbank website: Cincinnati Benefits Enrollment – Freestore Foodbank – We Can Help ✋(Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Highland and Hamilton Counties) or Shared Harvest website: Find a Pantry Near You | Shared Harvest (Butler and Warren Counties.)
  • You have 12 months to use the SNAP benefits from the date they are loaded to your card. So, if you do not want to spend all of your Emergency Allotments in one month, you can spend them over several months.
  • You can ask for a state hearing if you think your SNAP budget is wrong. You cannot ask for a state hearing over the loss of the Pandemic Emergency Allotments.  That was a change at the federal level, and a Hearing Officer cannot change it.

As always, please reach out to Legal Aid for advice if you feel that you were wrongfully denied or terminated from SNAP benefits. You can call us at 513-241-9400.