Onondaga County is seeing fewer residents receive federal food assistance than it did a year ago. But the county’s social services commissioner says the work of administering those benefits has become more difficult.
Sarah Merrick, the county’s commissioner of social services, told lawmakers Monday that changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, following the passage of H.R. 1 have created uncertainty for both residents and county workers.
“It really is creating ebbs and flows with our caseload,” Merrick said. “And it really is being a challenge to our staff because we have to, when at the national level people are determined it is not eligible, we're the ones at the front line having to explain this to them. And it's very, very confusing.”
Merrick said the county's SNAP caseload has dropped from about 35,000 to 28,000. But she said the decline does not necessarily mean the pressure on the county's social services system is easing.
Instead, workers are having to navigate changing federal eligibility rules while explaining those changes to residents who may lose benefits, she said.
At the same time, Merrick said the county is dealing with a separate problem: the gap between what residents receive through state temporary assistance and the cost of housing.
The state's standard of need — the amount used to determine monthly temporary assistance payments — has not increased since 2012, according to Merrick.
“The standard of need, which is the amount someone gets monthly on temporary assistance, it has not been increased by the state since 2012,” she said.
Merrick said a family of four receives $842 a month under the current standard, which must cover expenses including rent, basic necessities and heating.
That leaves the county facing another cost when residents cannot afford housing: emergency shelter.
Merrick said shelter is substantially more expensive than keeping someone in basic housing, meaning the county can end up absorbing the additional expense when residents have nowhere else to go.
The combination of changing federal benefit rules and inadequate housing assistance is putting pressure on county services, Merrick told lawmakers.
The county's budget review is scheduled to continue Wednesday.
