Federal Food Stamp Cases Continue to Rise in Orange County

The Orange County Government Center in Goshen, N.Y., on Oct. 22, 2022. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

The number of federal food stamp cases in Orange County, New York, rose to 18,127 by mid-year, up by more than 450 from June 2023, according to information reported at the latest Human Services Committee meeting.

Orange County Social Services and Mental Health Commissioner Lacey Trimble presented these numbers along with those of other welfare programs at the August committee meeting. It was her first monthly report to county legislators after being confirmed as the new head of both departments.

With federal food stamps covering both individual and family cases, the actual number of beneficiaries in the county is estimated to be about 40,000.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, federal food stamp cases in the county steadily climbed to more than 16,600 in December 2022 and close to 18,000 in December 2023, reversing a pre-COVID-19 downward trajectory.

Between 2018 and 2019, the number of cases dropped from about 17,000 to 15,500.

Formally called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the federal food stamps program helps qualified low-income individuals and families offset basic food costs at approved grocery stores.

Each state administers the federal program in its own fashion. In New York, a working individual who is not a senior citizen or disabled and earns less than $1,823 per month qualifies for SNAP; for a working family of three with no elderly or disabled members, the monthly income threshold is $3,108.

Temporary Assistance, another federal welfare program that provides direct cash payments to needy children and adults, also has seen a steady uptick in the past few years. According to Trimble, the number of cases in the county rose from 1,181 in June 2022 to 1,265 in June 2023 and to 1,382 in June 2024.

The same trend applies to the number of homeless people in county care. In June, Orange County provided temporary shelter to 713 individuals, up by about 250 from June 2023.

Medicaid shows an opposite trend, largely caused by the unwinding of the COVID-19 pandemic-era automatic reenrollment policy, according to Trimble. From June 2023 to June this year, the number of locally managed Medicaid cases decreased by 1,243 to 20,616.

Trimble was confirmed as the new head of the social services and mental health departments by the county Legislature a month ago following the retirement of longtime commissioner Darcie Miller.

A Goshen resident, Trimble started as a social worker at the Mental Health Department in 2009 and climbed the ranks to deputy commissioner of the department in 2018 before being nominated by County Executive Steve Neuhaus to fill the top post.

During her confirmation hearing at the human services committee meeting in July, Trimble said her vision was to retain and grow the synergy between the two county departments.

“The benefits of our joint projects have been great. ... and we have really been successful in supporting each other with the shared populations [that we serve],” she said. “As we continue to work together, learn each other’s language, and find ways to communicate more effectively, I think we will see better outcomes, and I think we will see a lot of cost savings.”