State's food stamp cash-out policy no longer the best option for many aid recipients

Leaning on a cane, Donjean Gardner eases open her fridge and surveys the contents: half a Subway sandwich, several boxes of tangerine juice, a jar of pickles and half a jar of salsa.

Her one good meal a day comes from Meals on Wheels.

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in her 30s, Gardner traveled the world for 20 more years working in television production. But the disease caught up with her eventually.

Now 70, she is mostly confined to the metal bed that dominates her cramped apartment in Echo Park. Her only income is $845 a month in cash assistance for impoverished elderly or disabled people, most of which is spent on rent. She thought she might qualify for food stamps. To her dismay, the answer was no.

California is the only state that does not allow its 1.2 million recipients of federal Supplemental Security Income to apply for the benefit. The state decided in 1974 to increase its matching grant — known as the State Supplementary Payment — by $10 a month in place of administering food stamps for them. This additional amount has not changed in more than three decades.

"It's not fair," Gardner said, slumped on the edge of her bed as a Carole King album played in the background. "$10 is not worth what it was back then.... I sold my car so I could live."

When the state created the rule, many Supplemental Security Income recipients qualified only for the minimum food stamp allotment, which was then $10. Augmenting cash payments by that amount helped the state reduce its administration costs and relieved elderly and disabled people of the regular paperwork and other steps required to receive food stamps.

However, a recent increase in food stamp benefits and cuts to the cash assistance program have raised concern that some of the state's poorest and most vulnerable residents are now being shortchanged by the policy.

"How can you say there is an extra $10 when benefits are cut year after year?" asked Dan Brzovic of Disability Rights California. "That's an accounting gimmick."

To help close a massive deficit, the state Legislature approved cuts that have shaved $25 off the maximum monthly grant for individuals like Gardner and $117 off the maximum grant for couples since last summer. Additional cuts are being discussed. Meanwhile, food stamp recipients saw their benefits increase almost 14% last year.