GREENVILLE (WNCT) — Thousands of people getting food stamps in North Carolina are being affected by a new rule for food stamps.
A new rule says in order to receive food stamps, recipients must work at least 20 hours a week or lose their benefits. The deadline to find work was October, so reality is starting to set in for many.
The rule applies to able-bodied adults without dependents. There are exemptions, such as doing volunteer work or taking classes.
Pitt County has lost 1,400 recipients between July and October.
“Usually it’s several hundred per month that we might fluctuate up or down," said Pitt County Director of Social Services Jan Elliott. "We’ve been pretty steady in the 30,000, 31-30,000 range for a pretty good while. So this was the most dramatic drop in a 3 month period of time that I’ve seen.”
Elliott says Pitt County's employment training programs are expanding and 300 have started these programs in recent months. More partnerships have been developed to offer more opportunities to work and volunteer. The hope is more will do their part to take advantage.
“Obviously it’s concerning when folks lose benefits that they might need. But again, those folks, many of them made the choice whether to comply with the rules or not. Some perhaps didn’t understand the importance of reporting and that’s too bad,” Elliott said.
More staff has been hired and trained to fulfill the new programs.
