Extra Food Stamps Are Ending...Here's What You Should Know

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The extra food stamp (FNS/SNAP) payment, officially called Emergency Allotments, will end in February 2023.

Starting in March, you will only get your regular food stamp payment loaded to your EBT card. There will be no second payment later in the month. More details here

YOU DO NOT NEED TO SPEND ALL OF YOUR FOOD STAMPS

You can keep food stamp benefits on your EBT card as long as you want, so long as you use the card once every 9 months to keep it active. If you can save benefits from January and February to spend in a later month it may help when the second payments end in March 2023.

REPORTING CHANGES MAY HELP YOU GET MORE FOOD STAMPS

Your regular food stamp benefit amount is based on your income and expenses. Your food stamp benefits could be increased if you had any of these changes:

INCOME: Did you lose work hours or have your pay cut?
SHELTER: Did your rent, mortgage, homeowner’s insurance, or property taxes increase?
DEPENDENT CARE: Are you paying more for child care or care of a disabled adult?
MEDICAL EXPENSES: Does anyone in your household who is 60 or older or disabled have medical costs over $35/month that are new or have never been reported?
YOUR ADDRESS: This will not impact your benefit level, but you may miss important updates if your local DSS does not have your current address.

If you are already receiving the maximum amount of food stamps in your first monthly payment, reporting higher expenses won’t increase your food stamp benefits. More details here

Household Size	1	2	3	4
Maximum Amount	$281	$516	$740	$939

REPORT A CHANGE IN THE FOLLOWING WAY:

Visit or call your local Department of Social Services (DSS), (www.ncdhhs.gov/divisions/social-services/local-dss-directory) to report changes.
Although you do not have the right to request a fair hearing solely to dispute the end of emergency allotments, you can request a fair hearing if you believe your regular, monthly benefits were improperly calculated. You can request a fair hearing by contacting your local county department of social services. Hearings may be requested in person, by telephone, or in writing.
If you need legal assistance at a fair hearing, you can apply for help at Legal Aid of North Carolina by calling 1 (866) 219-LANC (5262).

CHECK YOUR MONTHLY FOOD STAMP BENEFIT BY:

Visit www.ebtedge.com. Click on More Information under EBT Cardholder. You will be prompted to login and/or register your account.
Download and use the EBT Edge mobile app (can be downloaded on Google Play or Apple Store).
Contact the North Carolina EBT Call Center at 1-888-622-7328.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

To learn more about additional food and nutrition resources, visit www.ncdhhs.gov/foodresources
If you have children under 5 or are pregnant/breastfeeding, you may be eligible for WIC. Learn more about WIC (www.ncdhhs.gov/ncwic) and complete a WIC referral online (www.ncdhhs.gov/ncwicreferral)