Why can't I qualify for food stamps?

Question

So, my situation is, I'm 19, unemployed and rent at my parents house... I have my own car which I pay for and again, I pay my own rent and everything. Anyway, since I've been unemployed for a month and a half and have only received one check for $207... I've been pretty damn broke recently so I decided I should go apply for food stamps... well, since I'm younger than 22 and live in my parents home (I PAY RENT) I do not qualify! I've worked since I was 16 years old and have always been a responsible person! How could this happen? The woman who helped me said there was nothing she could do... doesn't that seem like a lie? I've seen many people abuse the system and I'm truely someone who needs this and should be entitles to the help since I am a US citizen!

Answer 1

The reason you are ineligible has nothing to do with what rent you pay, your car payment, or anything- it's because you are under 22 and live with your parents- that's a regulation set by the USDA/Food and Nutrition Services- which is who regulates the Food Stamp Program. You would have to be on a case WITH your parents- meaning their income and resources would be considered as well.

Given your amount of unemployment (and btw, if you are on unemployment you would not be "time limited" since being on unemployment has a requirement that you do work search)- you wouldn't have been eligible for very much anyway.

If you get out on your own, then you can reapply- or you can wait until you are 22.

Sometimes the policies are "unfair" given the fact that the government as a whole considers you an adult- but that's just the way the food stamp policy is set up.

Whatever you do, do NOT go in and reapply and claim you no longer live with your parents just to get certified- then you would be subject to possible fraud investigation.

And for those posters who claim she is the "wrong color"- please. Obviously, none of you have ever BEEN in a welfare office- you'd be mighty surprised to see WHO is on benefits.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I would guess the fact that you live at your parent's home probably has something to do with it. How do you pay rent AND a car payment when you have only recieved $207 in the last month and a half? Who buys your food? Pays the electric bill? Pays the gas bill? Makes sure the cable TV is still on? You guessed it, your parents.

Food stamps are for people who have no other way to feed themselves, you have your parents who are doing that for you right now. Why are you "entitled" to a benefit that is meant to help people who have nothing? How would you recieving food stamps not be an abuse of the system? Find a job if you are "pretty damn broke" and stop trying to suckle at the government's tit.

Answer 3

If you don't have a job, how are you paying rent?

Are you paying the same price that your parents would charge someone who wasn't related to them? My guess is that you are paying a discounted "rent" because you're the child of the lessors, and they wouldn't kick you out if you couldn't pay. What I'm trying to say is that you're not really paying rent to your parents. You are just contributing toward the household expenses and you still rely on them for support. This is probably why you wouldn't qualify for food stamps.

Now if your parents needed food stamps to support themselves and you and any of their other children still living at home, then that might be a different story.

Answer 4

are you Black or Mexican? Probably not. You are white and white people don't need to eat! That makes me mad! Your folks have to live too. But they don't see it that way.
Or the person you were talking to was black or Mexican.
There is a way to beat the system. You have to live where you pay bills, or they need a bill in your name to prove to them you live there. And you will have to get someone to tell them, you live with them, and you owe then rent. You got to lie, or you will never get it. This is the sad truth.
I know a couple that is living together and they have told the woman he left. She draws money for the kids and has 700.00 dollars a month on food stamps
You are now in the real world!

Answer 5

Getting food stamps is tough it took me a long time almost 1 year. You need not to live with parents in order to get it though, I am 28 years old Caucassian Male living with a heart problem. They only give you food stamps if you really need them.The government is very strict. Best Idea would be to find another job or move out of parents house but you would need to live with a few of your friends.

Answer 6

Apparently, you earn too much and/or don't meet the criteria. Why not use the same energy to find and secure employment that pays better? If you are a responsible person, you will have no problem in doing what you must to earn what you must to eat, pay your rent, car note, and budget accordingly. If you see someone abusing the system, you have a civic duty to report them. Good luck either way.

Answer 7

If you live at home, can't you just eat your parents food? They probably don't consider the rent you pay your parents to really be rent, as there is probably no rental contract between you and your parents and because you are related. If you lived on your own and had a child or children, your chances would be much better.

Answer 8

You have to fight it. Go back tell them you feed yourself and you eat alone and don't feed no one else. Ask for an appeal. Show them you owe your rent take in receipts from your parents. and don't stop. Keep looking for a job, because they don't count your car payment or your car insurance. Take in any bills that you have if you help with power get a receipt, doctor bills medications all that you have take it with you and keep trying and ask your parents to be patient that you are trying. Don't give up your young and you have a life ahead of you and when you do get a job always try your hardest at your place of employment, and I wish you the best of luck. The system sucks and I can vouch for that I have a hard time getting help and I'm disabled legally with a small SS check. I hate going to the social services after being gainfully employed for many years and something happened that was out of my control and they treat you like a piece of trash, not matter how many years you worked it the same. God Bless you and good luck.

Answer 9

Really? Who exactly have you in all your 19 years seen abuse the system? It sounds to me like that's what you're trying to do. At 19 the world is wide open with opportunities for you. When my single, 60 year old mother was laid off of her job & out of work for 2 years before finding someone to hire her because of her age she never once applied for food stamps. She drew unemployment just like you until her benefits ran out. She had a house payment, a car payment, credit card payments & she tithes 10% of all she receives to her church. Why would SHE be able to make it and not YOU? Stop whining & go find a job! This is a PRIME example of why we need immigrants in this country. We have whiny, lazy brats like this who don't want to work. I'm guessing you haven't taken a job yet because no one has offered you $100k right?

Answer 10

They make their determination on set parameters; in your case - single and income. If you were a female with children and receiving $207 a week on unemployment - you would qualify or if you were disabled. Able bodied, childless single people - do NOT fit in their parameters.
I am drawing unemployment and a single female (my children are all grown and have families of their own) - I make too much on unemployment (according to their parameters), therefore, I do not qualify, however, if I were disabled - then I would.
I know, it seems unfair - but remember, it's their rules not ours.