Indiana approved for mass SNAP replacement

The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration will begin issuing additional Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit replacements to Hoosiers in 19 counties whose food perished in power outages on Aug. 11.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the agency’s request Thursday to replace SNAP benefits for affected households in all or parts of Carroll, Dearborn, Decatur, Delaware, Fayette, Franklin, Hancock, Henry, Lake, LaPorte, Madison, Marion, Porter, Pulaski, Randolph, Rush, Tipton, Union and Wayne counties.

Families lost weeks of food they couldn’t afford to replace. Then their SNAP claims were denied.

Gov. Mike Braun directed FSSA to apply for the federal waiver, which allows the agency to automatically replace anywhere from 15% to 60% of a family’s monthly SNAP allotment to alleviate the financial toll on families whose food spoiled in power outages.

The benefits will be loaded directly to each household’s electronic benefits transfer card on or around Sept. 26 — no paperwork or interview is required.

Earlier waivers permitted the agency to replace benefits for some Hoosiers, but were more restrictive in which households qualified and came with strict application deadlines, prompting the Braun administration to pursue a simpler process.

Amounts will vary based on when each household received their benefits.

Hoosiers whose benefits came through between Aug. 5 and Aug. 9 will see the highest replacement at 60% of their monthly allotment, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

The agency will replace 30% of monthly SNAP benefits for Hoosiers whose allotments were received July 19 through July 23, while benefits distributed between July 11 and July 17 will be replaced at a rate of 15%.

Households that already received replacement benefits will not see an additional allotment.

The state anticipates 36,533 households will qualify for the federal support, estimated to be worth up to $10 million.

Eligible zip codes include:

• All of Lake and Porter counties
• Carroll (46932, 47926)
• Dearborn (47032, 47060)
• Decatur (46156, 47240)
• Delaware (47320, 47334)
• Fayette (47024, 47352)
• Franklin (47003, 47024, 47240)
• Hancock (46117)
• Henry (46117, 47334, 47352, 47360)
• LaPorte (46340, 46345, 46346, 46348, 46350, 46360, 46365, 46371, 46382, 46390, 46391, 46532, 46552, 46574)
• Madison (46016)
• Marion (46107)
• Pulaski (46366)
• Randolph (47320, 47360)
• Rush (46156, 46182, 47240, 47352)
• Tipton (46979)
• Union (47003)
• Wayne (47339, 47345, 47360).

Braun also told reporters Thursday the Federal Emergency Management Agency has distributed $89 million in disaster relief to Hoosiers. Total aid distributed by federal, state and local governments for temporary housing, food, clothing and other assistance has surpassed $100 million, he said.

The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority will renew hotel vouchers for Hoosiers displaced by last month’s severe storms for another 30 days.

“What we didn’t want were families and households that have been in these hotels since the disaster to be out on the street again in the coming days,” said Jonathan Whitham, executive director of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

At peak, some 360 households relied on vouchers for temporary shelter following severe flooding in August.

Whitham said roughly 260 households remain in hotels ahead of the initial 30-day deadline, which has been extended.

“We’re not to that point in the recovery phase where we’ve got that long-term option for some of these families,” he said. “So we want to extend it. We want everybody to know that if you’ve got a roof over your head right now, you’re going to have that as that expiration comes up on that first 30 days.”