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DCFS Announces USDA Approval of Automatic Replacement of Partial Regular SNAP Benefits for August

September 06, 2012

09.06.12 - The United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service today approved a request to automatically replace a portion of August benefits for regular Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients in certain parishes after Hurricane Isaac.

The waiver applies to 19 parishes: Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Jefferson, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne and West Feliciana.

The waiver allows DCFS to automatically replace 30 percent of a household's August benefits in those parishes. The approval waives a regulation that typically requires a household to request in writing replacement benefits due to power outages and other disruptions.

There are approximately 188,546 impacted households in those parishes and replacement benefits will total about $17,525,740.

DCFS had previously added all September SNAP benefits to recipients' cards statewide up to ten days early, ensuring that SNAP recipients had benefits immediately to replace destroyed or diminished food supplies.

DCFS expects to add the replacement benefits to regular SNAP recipients' benefit cards as early as tonight.

SNAP is administered in Louisiana by DCFS and overseen by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Read more about recipients' rights.