ALBANY, N.Y. — All recipients of food stamps in New York will receive their March benefits a week earlier than scheduled.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the early release is to ease the burden on those who stretched February's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits during the federal government shutdown.
The Democrat says all SNAP recipients will get next month's benefits no later than March 7 to mitigate hardships caused by the so-called "SNAP gap."
The federal government directed states to issue February SNAP benefits three weeks earlier than normal to ensure enough funding was available during the shutdown. That meant recipients needed to make sure February's benefits lasted for more than six weeks.
Not everyone will be getting their SNAP benefits early. Erie County issued this statement:
For the month of March, SNAP households with active cases in Erie County will have benefits deposited into their EBT accounts on March 1st. SNAP households that usually receive SNAP benefits on the 1st of each month will see no change. Some households may receive benefits early as benefit issuance are normally staggered throughout the first 9 days of the month. Deposits are based on the last digit of a households food stamp case number (Ex, If the case number is F123123 benefits are deposited each month on the 3rd, but for the month of March they will be deposited into the account on the 1st). In this case, the household will be able to access them 2 days early. If the case # ended in an 8, those households would be receiving their reoccurring benefit a week early for March.