SNAP recipients to receive $1.4M after state adjusts for heating costs

About 200,000 Massachusetts households will get a boost to their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits starting this month to reflect rising utility costs.

The Department of Transitional Assistance, in a press release announcing the move, said SNAP benefit levels are determined in part by average utility bills and that Massachusetts sought and received federal approval to adjust the heating costs used to set benefit amounts. The increase totals an estimated $1.4 million, DTA officials said.

The state plans to send messages in late March with information on the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to around 300,000 households that receive SNAP benefits and include a family member with a disability or who is 60 or older. Similar multilingual text messages went out to more than 69,000 SNAP households with young children in January, and the DTA said that outreach "helped lead to an 85% increase in new LIHEAP applications among this population compared to the same time period in the previous year."

"With these actions, we can ensure the Commonwealth's most vulnerable families and households continue to have access to these important programs," Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy said in a statement. "Especially as we continue to make progress toward our economic recovery, it's vital that families with the greatest need are not disproportionately affected by the rise in costs of consumer goods and fuel during the winter."

LIHEAP is accepting applications for fuel assistance through May 13, 2022. The program served about 135,000 households in the 2020-2021 heating season, according to the Baker administration.