Ohioans and Increasing Food Stamp Use

As far as income maintenance programs go in the state of Ohio, the most widely utilized is the Food Stamp Assistance Program, a supplemental program used to help families in low income households cover their food costs. The state of Ohio itself classifies Food Stamps as a nutritional program, rather than a welfare program, but the structure of the program is largely as supplemental. The program itself is based on income requirements, and the thresholds for income are seemingly accommodating to residents: An average family of four can gross up to approximately $26,000 per year and be eligible for assistance, although the levels of assistance provided are not proportional to the amount a family is below the threshold.

Despite the eligibility thresholds remaining relatively stable for the last three years, there has been an explosion in the amount of new recipients of food stamps in the state of Ohio. In particular, there has been a 71 percent increase in recipients statewide, and in some counties the increase has been over 150%. One would think that such a mass growth in the program is unfeasible, but there have been some reasons as to why the program is being used much more now than ever.

The state of Ohio, prior to 2004, used an offline paper-based food stamp system, which required program recipients to retain bound books of notes for use at retailers. As a result, the psychic costs that one receiving the food stamps would have to pay, the stigma of having to submit the notes at the checkout rather indiscreetly as well as the loss of portions of the stamps' face value if sales were not on an exact dollar amount pushed many people to stigmatize the program. Ohio was the second-to-last state in the US (Wyoming being the last) to switch to a newer, card-based system in 2004, utilizing point-of-sale transactions to set up electronic accounts to draw exact dollar transactions from program benefit recipients and reducing the perceived hassle of using food stamps.

In addition to the reduced costs for program users, the state has been publicizing the program heavily and through less traditional means (such as placing fliers on commonly purchased items, such as cartons of eggs,) attempting to outreach to persons who otherwise would not feel they were eligible for the program or would not think to apply. The increased information flow to the consumer has caused a record number of applications to flow into the state for food stamps in the last three years. Even with the increases, there are still an estimated half-million persons in the state who are eligible but not using the program, many due to the fact that they're working persons who believe that they cannot qualify.

Ultimately, the most publicized reason for the increase of the program's use is due to a stagnant economic state in Ohio over the past few years. Wages in the state are not growing at a fast enough rate to cover inflationary costs, and, despite the state's relatively low cost of living, many families are unable to cover their consumption costs. Joblessness is not an issue (unemployment rates are comparable to national numbers) but the quality of the available positions is poor.