Leaving welfare often severs families' connections to the Food Stamp Program

In the early stages of welfare reform, a variety of studies found that many families that left welfare also left the Food Stamp Program (FSP), even though most were still eligible for it. This paper examines more recent data to determine whether this behavior has continued or whether at least some of it was due to initial misunderstandings about eligibility. Our results show that families leaving welfare continued leaving the FSP at about the same rate in 1999 as they had 2 years earlier. For example, only half of families who left welfare and had incomes below 50% of the federal poverty level continued participating in the FSP. We also show that more families reported leaving the FSP because of administrative issues in 1999 than did in 1997. Families that left the FSP were more likely to have moved recently and to have owned cars than families that remained. Our results raise concern that structural reforms are needed to make it easier for the working poor to receive these benefits. Recent federal changes in the FSP have allowed states to move in that direction.