"They took away my food stamps," one gal from the Village explained to me the other day, "because I don't have utility bills," once she obtained temporary housing and was no longer on the street.
I know that sounds crazy, but I experienced a similar situation a few years ago at one annual evaluation. Instead of listing my electricity separately from my monthly rent, I included it. I pay my 'landlord' a lump sum which includes electric, water, sewar and garbage; which is usually how it is living on someone else's property, unless they have separate meters. All of a sudden my SNAP benefits went from something like $175 to $35.
"WTF?!!" When the woman explained the insane rule to me, I said, "Well, nothing's changed in my pocketbook from last year to today, so put it back the way it was!!!" Fortunately she did, and I have a note to always keep my electric amount SEPARATE.
At last year's eval I relinquished my last bit of pride and put my name on the list for Section 8 housing. When I checked the county's list the other day, I was number 3866. At my SNAP meeting last week, before we even started, I asked if my current food stamp amount could possibly be re-evaluated, since yada, yada.
"The Computer figures it out automatically, sorry. It only looks at X, Y and Z," and the questioning began.
My SNAP benefits had already been cut in half when I went from SSI to SS; and when we were finished the other day HAL took away another $20 in benefits, because my Social Security increased 2.8% last January along with everyone else's cost of living adjustment.
So ask me what I think of illegal immigrants and social benefits.
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