Texas residents will be able to receive Supplementary National Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits from October 1 to October 28. The Food Stamps will be able to help them purchase food items at no cost at selected stores across Texas using their Lone Star cards, which can be used at the point of purchase.
Note that the food stamp card can only be used to purchase food items, especially as the purpose of SNAP is to ensure an improvement in the well-being and nutritional health of Americans. As such, you cannot make purchases of alcoholic content, drugs, or any other harmful substances with the Lone Star cards.
Who qualifies for SNAP in Texas?
While SNAP aims to ensure that all Americans have access to nutrition that will help them improve their health, it is important to note that certain requirements determine your eligibility for receiving food stamps. The requirements include:
- You must be a person in a low-income household.
- You can be eligible for SNAP if you belong to a household with older adults above the age of 60 or if you are disabled.
- If you are between 18 and 52 and you do not have a child in your home, you can only receive SNAP benefits for three months across three years.
- If you are between 16 and 59, you can get SNAP benefits through work rules. So, you must get a job or be in an approved work program. Also, quitting your job without a good reason disqualifies you from receiving the SNAP benefits.
The minimum SNAP benefit that each family can receive ranges from $291 for a family of one person to $1751 for a family size of eight.
Can SNAP benefits be rolled over?
While the SNAP benefits are received monthly, important information about the program is that it can be rolled into a new month. and can give the family a chance to accumulate unused SNAP amounts from the previous month while offering them the opportunity to have even more funds that will be useful in meeting their needs in the coming month.
However, any SNAP benefit rolled over into a new month and is not exhausted by the end of a calendar year will automatically be wiped off by the state with a fresh SNAP amount starting in the coming year.
Therefore, families are encouraged to not only accumulate SNAP benefits but also ensure that the said amounts are used up before the year is over to avoid the possibility of their accumulated benefits being wiped off.
