Additional SNAP Benefits Coming to 110,000 Households in Connecticut

The Connecticut Department of Social Services has announced that it will provide $16 million in Emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) benefits to more than half of Connecticut SNAP-eligible households on Thursday, November 19 – adding to the $137.8 million in emergency benefits disbursed in April, May, June, July, August, September, and October.

Authorized by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020, the extra food benefits will go to approximately 110,000 households not currently receiving the maximum benefits allowed for their household size. This means that all households enrolled in SNAP will receive the maximum food benefit allowable for their household size, even if they are not usually eligible for the maximum benefit.

Specifically:

• The Department of Social Services reports that approximately 110,000 of 213,541 SNAP-participating households statewide will receive the emergency benefits in November.
• With this additional $16 million allocation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, emergency benefits are totaling over $153.8 million in additional SNAP assistance statewide during April, May, June, July, August, September, October, and November with commensurate spending in the food economy.
• The average emergency benefit amount a household will see on its electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card on November 19 is $153.00.
• All participating households also received their normal SNAP benefits on the first three days of each month they normally do, according to last name.
• If a household is granted regular SNAP benefits after November 19 and is also eligible for the emergency supplemental benefits, the latter benefits will be added to the EBT card on a Friday, depending on the date of granting.

Emergency benefits allowed the household’s SNAP benefit to increase to the maximum allotment for a household of that size as follows:

For each additional person, add $153. For example, if a household of two normally received $274 of SNAP benefits in November, $100 would bring this household up to the maximum benefit for its size. This household will receive a $100 emergency benefit on November 19.

For additional information about SNAP, visit www.ct.gov/snap.