Governor Kathy Hochul and other state officials said Monday that anyone enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will receive the maximum allowable level of food benefits for August.
All households participating in SNAP — including those already at the maximum level of benefits — will receive a supplemental allotment this month, resulting in a roughly $234 million infusion of federal funding into the New York State economy.
“No New Yorker should face the prospect of not being able to provide adequate food to feed their household,” Governor Hochul said. “These added benefits help to alleviate this aching concern for hundreds of thousands of individuals and families still struggling to make ends meet amid the ongoing economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The emergency assistance supplement will be provided to all households, including those that ordinarily receive the maximum allowable benefit per month on SNAP, a federally funded program overseen by the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. Households already near or at the maximum benefit level — $835 for a household of four — will receive a supplemental payment of at least $95.
The benefits should be distributed this week, according to state officials.
OTDA began issuing the emergency supplemental benefits in April 2020 to those SNAP households receiving less than the maximum monthly benefit amount. When New York State’s emergency declaration expired in June 2021, the agency successfully worked with the federal government to secure the maximum allotment for all SNAP households until the expiration of the federal declaration of a public health emergency, which was extended until October and will enable OTDA to continue issuing these benefits through November.
New Yorkers continued to rely heavily on SNAP this spring, with more than 1.6 million households, including more than 2.8 million New Yorkers, throughout the state enrolled in the program in June.
While there has been some decline in demand for the benefits since 2020, there has been an increase since June 2021.
State officials say SNAP plays an important role in New York’s ongoing economic recovery and has injected more than $1.2 billion into the state’s economy since January. Every federal dollar invested by SNAP generates up to $1.54 in economic activity, according to a federal study quantifying the impact of SNAP on the U.S. economy.
As with the prior months, the payments will be delivered directly to recipients’ existing Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) accounts and can be accessed with their existing EBT cards. Like regular SNAP benefits, the supplemental benefits can be used to purchase food at authorized retail food stores. Any unused SNAP benefits will automatically carry over to the following month.
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