Recipients of SNAP assistance, or food stamps, in San Francisco will not see their benefits lapse due to the federal government shutdown, thanks to a partnership between San Francisco and the charity started by billionaire Michael Moritz and his wife.
SF Mayor Daniel Lurie announced Wednesday that SNAP benefits would be covered for the approximately 112,000 San Franciscans who rely on this monthly food assistance. The expense will be covered by $9 million in city contingency funds that were set aside to address potential issues under a Trump presidency, and that will be matched by a $9 million grant from the Crankstart Foundation.
“We will not stand by with the federal government set to let these critical benefits lapse for the first time ever,” Lurie said in a statement. “San Franciscans stand up for each other, and we’re going to do what it takes to make sure our neighbors can put food on the table and provide for their families.”
The fate of actual SNAP assistance checks for November still remains in flux, with a federal judge in Boston indicating on Thursday that she may force the hand of the Trump administration to tap contingency funds to cover them. The administration has been arguing, for obviously political reasons, that it can’t legally or logistically access the billions of dollars in emergency funds held by the USDA to pay for SNAP benefits, despite the fact that SNAP benefits have never gone unpaid during previous shutdowns.
“Right now, Congress has put money in an emergency fund for an emergency and it’s hard for me to understand how this isn’t an emergency when there’s no money and a lot of people are needing their SNAP benefits,” US District Judge Indira Talwani said in court, per CNN.
The state of California joined a coalition of two dozen states that sued the USDA and the Trump administration this week over the withholding of SNAP benefits — which was something the USDA earlier said would not happen. The about face has appeared clearly designed as maneuver by Republicans to blame Democrats for forcing millions of Americans to starve due to the government shutdown.
Still, even if the judge makes an emergency ruling, it’s likely that SNAP recipients will receive late and potentially only partial checks in November, as CNN reports. So the San Francisco supplemental program will surely help those who are food insecure.
“As a mother, I am very worried if I am going to be able to get the help for my kids… and it’s something that everyone needs,” says Tenderloin resident and SNAP recipient Laura Clavejo, speaking through a Spanish interpreter to KPIX on Wednesday. “It’s very uncertain because you don’t get the right answer… you are in limbo of yes or no.”
In California, SNAP assistance is administered through CalFresh. San Francisco residents enrolled in CalFresh have been told to expect mail next week that will provide instructions for accessing digital or physical prepaid cards that are pre-loaded with funds that can be used at grocery stores citywide. The program is being administered by the San Francisco Human Services Agency in a pro bono partnership with GiveCard, a gift-card distribution platform that was recenly used to distribute emergency aid after the Los Angeles wildfires.
Around 82,000 San Francisco households, representing around 112,000 residents, receive SNAP benefits, including seniors, people with disabilities, families with children, and workers with very low or unstable incomes. Benefit amounts vary based on household need.
“SNAP is a lifeline for over a hundred thousand San Franciscans, and access to food is the most basic measure of dignity and stability,” said Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman in a statement. “I’m grateful to Mayor Lurie and his budget staff, and to Crankstart, for leading with compassion and urgency in a moment when our federal government has failed to meet its most fundamental obligation.”
Lurie scored a win last week by avoiding badmouthing the Trump administration all year, but Governor Gavin Newsom has been more frank in his criticism. As he said in a statement earlier this week, “While Donald Trump parades around the world trying to repair the economic damage he’s done with his incompetence, he’s denying food to millions of Americans who will go hungry next month. It’s cruel and speaks to his basic lack of humanity. He doesn’t care about the people of this country, only himself.”