Section 7.3.1

America's Second Harvest became Feeding America in 2008. This study was published prior to that name change in 2001.

7.3.1 - Reasons Why Clients or Their Households Are Not Currently Receiving Food Stamps, for Those Who Have Applied

Clients who have applied but are not currently receiving food stamps were asked why they are not currently receiving food stamps. Results are shown in Table 7.3.1.

Table 7.3.1
REASONS WHY CLIENTS OR THEIR HOUSEHOLDS ARE NOT CURRENTLY RECEIVING FOOD STAMPS, FOR THOSE WHO HAVE APPLIED

Reasons Why Clients or Their Households Are Not Currently Receiving Food Stamps, for Those Who Have Applied for Food Stamps1. Pantry Client Households Kitchen Client Households Shelter Client Households All Client Households
Ineligibility        
Ineligible income level        
All clients 43.1% 21.6% 29.2% 39.2%
Income 130% of the federal poverty level or lower 31.2% 14.6% 19.3% 28.1%
Income higher than 130% of the federal poverty level 7.7% 5.1% 4.0% 7.1%
Change of household makeup 2.7% 3.4% 8.6% 3.1%
Time limit for receiving the help ran out 4.9% 7.1% 5.7% 5.3%
Citizenship status 1.1% 1.6% 0.2% 1.2%
SUBTOTAL2. 49.9% 32.4% 40.7% 46.8%
Inconvenience        
Too much hassle 17.9% 20.7% 14.6% 18.1%
Hard to get to food stamp office 4.2% 7.1% 2.5% 4.5%
SUBTOTAL 20.5% 26.2% 16.3% 21.1%
No Need        
No need for benefits 6.4% 7.6% 13.0% 7.0%
Others need benefits more 2.2% 3.5% 2.2% 2.4%
Need is only temporary 4.3% 4.1% 8.7% 4.5%
SUBTOTAL 10.1% 12.3% 17.5% 10.9%
other        
Other reasons 3. 19.3% 30.4% 34.1% 21.8%
SAMPLE SIZE (N) - Clients who have applied for but are not currently receiving food stamps 8,927 2,032 1,205 12,164

Source
This table was constructed based on usable responses to Question 37 of the client survey.

Notes
All usable responses were weighted as described in Chapter 3 and in the Technical Appendix volume to represent all emergency food clients of the A2H network. The sample sizes (N) also include missing data.

Missing, don't know, and refusal responses combined are 7.6% for pantry clients, 7.6% for kitchen clients, 3.6% for shelter clients, and 7.4% for all clients.

1. Multiple responses were accepted.

2. The subtotal in this table indicates the percentage of people who provided one or more component items as their responses; thus it may differ from the sum of component items.

3. This includes "waiting" and "in progress."


As Table 7.3.1 shows, 39.2% of the clients indicated a higher-than-required income level as a reason why they were not currently receiving food stamps. Those clients are further broken down into two categories based on the information about their previous month's household income: those who had an income that is 130% of the federal poverty level or lower (28.1%); and those who had an income that is higher than 130% of the federal poverty level (7.1%).18,19 Other findings include:

  • Overall, 46.8% of the clients believe that they are not receiving food stamps because they are not eligible.
  • 21.1% are not receiving food stamps because it is too much hassle.
  • 10.9% are not receiving food stamps either because there is no need or because they think others would need the benefits more.