The longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history is over. But there’s uncertainty about how long before life will be back to normal for the 1.4 million Ohioans in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program who lost food stamp benefits during it.
SNAP recipients will get their benefits for November, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. ODJFS said this week the state processed partial payments for eligible households. That will now be deducted from the full amount households are set to get for November and then benefits will be transferred to electronic benefit transfer or EBT cards.
"In normal times it takes several days or even weeks for file transfers to move from the state to a third party vendor who then transmits data to the federal government who then basically takes steps to approve issuance of benefits," said Joree Novotny, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks. "So to restart full issuance of benefits seemingly also takes some time. We don't know with certainty how much longer it will take."
ODJFS isn’t giving a timeline or a date.
Partial payments for eligible households were processed this week, and that will be deducted from their full benefit for November.
In the meantime food banks and pantries are open, and Novotny said they're seeing a lot of traffic.
“We're serving anywhere from 50% to 70% or 80% more people than normal right now at our food pantries," Novotny said. "We're not out of the woods yet, but we're relieved that help is coming soon."
