New York Pioneers Transitional Food Stamps

New York State is now the first state in the nation to implement a Transitional Food Stamp Program!

The program, known as the Transitional Benefits Alternative (TBA), provides three months of food stamps to former TANF participants after the TANF case closes. The benefit amount will be "frozen" at the amount they were receiving while on cash assistance, so it will not go down. However, if their new benefit amount after leaving cash assistance should be higher, the grant will be increased.

OTDA wanted to get this program in effect before the time-limited cases began closing in December, and not all the computer changes were made in time. Therefore, transitional benefits was implemented and is operating, but the automatic rebudgeting is not working yet. In NYC, cases that are eligible for increased benefits will get only the amount they received while on TANF during the transitional period. OTDA hopes to have the computer changes made by April.

Some households are not eligible for TBA. These include households whose cases are closed for violations of program rules, such as work sanctions, and households leaving SNA. Households that go from TANF to SNA due to time limits will receive food stamps under the regular food stamp rules, not TBA.

If a case is closed for missing a TANF appointment, they may get transitional benefits, UNLESS the appointment is also the FSP recertification appointment. It is important for clients and advocates to realize that, under these circumstances, households should call and tell the caseworker if they are choosing not to go to the appointment because they want their TANF case closed. Then they will get the TBA.

Before the end of the 3-month transitional period the household will have a regular recertification to determine their eligibility for ongoing food stamps. In the fourth month, benefits will be adjusted based on the household’s new circumstances. If the household is no longer eligible, the case will be closed.

Transitional benefits provide a great opportunity to help people make a successful transitional from cash assistance to food stamps as a support to the household’s other resources. A detailed description of how the program works is available on the greater Upstate Law Project website (www.gulp.org, click on Benefits, then Food Stamps).