The Food Stamp Program and Supplemental Security Income

The Food Stamp Program (FSP) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are important parts of national public assistance policy, with considerable overlap in the populations they serve. We use Social Security administrative data and the Food Stamp Quality Control samples for federal fiscal years 2001-2006 to study the prevalence of food stamp receipt among households with SSI recipients, the contribution of FSP to household income, and the importance of various FSP features in contributing to the well-being of recipient households. The prevalence of FSP participation among households that include SSI recipients is estimated to have grown steadily over the entire 2001-2006 period, rising from 47.4 percent in 2001 to 55.6 percent in 2006. In 2001, FSP increased the income of the households of SSI/FSP recipients by 13 percent; by 2006 the increase was 16.8 percent. Reasons for these developments and their policy implications are reviewed