More Marylanders Using Food Stamps, Other Aid Programs

More Marylanders are using food stamps than ever, a result of the deepening decline in the economy, state officials said.

From January 2007 to December 2008, the number of Marylanders in the program grew by 35 percent, from 312,271 to 422,373, said Rosemary Malone, deputy executive director of the state's Family Investment Administration.

"A lot of it has to do with the recession," Malone said. "We are seeing a lot of new people who have not been on assistance before."

The previous high-water mark for the federal food stamp program -- now called SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- was in 1994, when 385,037 people participated amid the lingering effects of the recession of the early 1990s.

As the needy have turned increasingly to food stamps in recent months, they have also applied to other aid programs.

The number of families relying on temporary cash assistance grew by 23 percent, from 49,759 in January 2007 to 61,059 recipients in December 2008. The number of people using temporary state disability benefits also jumped 23 percent, to 13,929.

The economic fallout was also reflected in applications to the Maryland energy assistance program, which were up 20 percent last year, with more than 105,000 requests for aid by the end of the year, state officials said.

To reach those who have been hit by the recession, the state has been promoting its assistance programs, said Elyn Garrett Jones, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Human Resources.

In November, the state launched a Web site that includes details about an array of benefit programs and other services, including ride sharing, Medicaid and child-care subsidies. The site is http://www.problemsolver.maryland.gov.

"We recognize it's difficult for everybody right now, and we are doing all we can to address needs as we are able to," Jones said.

Also in November, Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and the nonprofit organization Share Our Strength launched the Partnership to End Childhood Hunger in Maryland, with a focus on what O'Malley said was "more than 184,000 kids in Maryland [who] don't have reliable or ready access to the food they need to lead healthy, active lives."

Amy Ginsburg Gabala, executive director of the nonprofit group Manna Food Center in Montgomery County, said food problems are one of the first indicators of a family's financial distress. People find it harder to cut back on fixed costs such as rent, heat or electricity, she said. Food, by contrast, is "one of the few items you have control over."

"It is the bellwether," she said.

At Manna, the number of people seeking food was up 45 percent for the period from July through December, as compared with the same period in 2007. Other recessions have produced spikes of 10 or 12 percent, "nothing even close to the 45 percent increase we're seeing," Gabala said.

State officials said that although the economy is the primary reason for the surge in benefits applicants, another factor is legislation that took effect in July, expanding Medicaid coverage to more low-income families. Many families who use Medicaid also apply for food stamps.

Researchers from the University of Maryland's School of Social Work studied households that became part of food stamp rolls in September and found that one in three had not been part of the program in the previous 10 years, or perhaps ever.

The average food stamp benefit in Maryland last year was nearly $113 a person. For a family of four, that would have been about $452 a month.