PB Post Food Stamps Requests Soar

By JOHN LANTIGUA

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Friday, September 25, 2009

As the unemployment rate soared in the past year, the number of people signing up for food stamps in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast also skyrocketed, by nearly 50 percent.

The figures were released this week by the Department of Children and Families, which administers the federal program in Florida.

"The increase in Palm Beach County was 49 percent, but we have seen other counties in Florida that have gone up 75, 80, 90 percent," said Perry Borman, DCF regional director for Southeast Florida. "I would guess that the state has never seen such a dramatic increase in the past."

As of August, 48,236 households in Palm Beach County were receiving food stamps, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. That compares with 32,299 households last year.

The dollar amount distributed in stamps increased even more sharply, in part because federal stimulus funds were used to augment benefits. In July 2008, food stamp aid distributed in the county was $6.7 million per month. It climbed to $12.98 million this past August.

Borman said the food stamp program's traditional clientele — people mired in long-term poverty, including the homeless — have been joined by people who never asked for assistance before.

"We're seeing an increase in a different kind of people applying — the working poor," Borman said. "People have lost their jobs, they own a house, money has dried up and they turn to public assistance."

In Martin County, the number of households receiving food stamps increased from 3,077 in August 2008 to 4,937 in 2009, a rise of 60.4 percent. Benefits totaled $1.25 million.

In St. Lucie County, assistance was distributed in August to 17,337 households, up from 12,151 in 2008, an increase of 42.7 percent. The total distributed was $4.66 million.

"This is pretty unprecedented," said Cheri Sheffer, DCF spokeswoman in the two counties. "But here on the Treasure Coast we have some pretty tremendous unemployment statistics."