Record number on food stamps

COEUR d'ALENE - Jacob Pence never thought he would need food stamps in his life before two years ago, he said.

Then came marriage, three children and a recession crippling his career in the construction industry.

Now the 21-year-old will take what help he can get, he said.

"You've got to cover rent, electricity, and I don't get enough hours to pay rent," the Post Falls resident said, standing outside the Health and Welfare assistance office in Coeur d'Alene on Tuesday. "I'm looking for another job to help with that."

He's not the only one needing help while he looks.

Idaho is reporting a record number of 235,000 residents on food stamps, following dramatic increases in applicants over the past few years.

Food stamp recipients in Kootenai County have also more than tripled in the last four years, with 16 percent of the population currently on food stamps.

"Basically we've had a large number of people who were already eligible and had just never applied," said Tom Shanahan, spokesman for Idaho Health and Welfare. "I think when the recession hit, many of these people, wherever they were getting help, support from family or friends or church, that may have been impacted by the recession, too."

Kootenai County had 21,570 residents on food stamps in December, Shanahan said, shot up from 6,400 in June, 2007.

Tatjana Mock, IHW program manager, said demand has risen both for food stamps and other government assistance in Region 1.

"It's been a wide variety of people (applying)," she said, adding that the Coeur d'Alene office sees a lot of families coming in for applications. "But largely we're seeing an increase in the number of people who have never been on assistance before."

Unemployment is an obvious factor, she said. But there are also many who have been successfully self-employed for years and are now seeing their businesses fail to sustain them, she said.

"With the construction industry and the service trades declining, they're not making ends meet like they used to," Mock said.

Shanahan said the 235,000 food stamp recipients statewide is a substantial uptick from the 87,000 in 2007.

The state believes the trend won't last, he said. The rate of growth has slowed, with only a 6 percent increase in recipients this past year, compared to the 43 percent increase between 2009-2010.

"Food stamps are a pretty good barometer of poverty," Shanahan said. "As the economy recovers and people recover, they drop off food stamps."

Mock said recovery in North Idaho hinges on the return of jobs.

"In order for (assistance numbers) to drop off, we need there to be work," she said.

Nonprofits in Kootenai County aren't seeing signs of lessening demand for assistance.

Carolyn Shewfelt, program manager at Community Action Partnership, noted the climbing demand at the food bank, where shoppers qualify if they're on food stamps.

"We were up 498,000 pounds (of food) over the last year," Shewfelt said. "It's just amazing, the amount of people who qualify."

The nonprofit has seen folks using food stamps much more frequently, she added.

"It's not like they need a little bit of food. They're more dependent on the food bank than they ever have been, as the price of gas and food has gone up," she said.

Matt Hutchinson, social service director with St. Vincent de Paul, said dependency on food stamps in the area has increased with demand for transitional housing and shelters.

"The climate and dynamic of the clients have changed," he said. "The majority of our clients who are in the shelters or in transitional housing have lost decent jobs, and they're having to utilize resources that they never thought they would have to use."

The number of folks eating at the SVDP charity dining hall is up 100 percent over last year, Hutchinson said. And the HELP Center is serving 120 a day, up 20 percent from a few months ago.

"It's not getting better," he said.

Bridgette Lindstrom of Coeur d'Alene could attest to that, as she left the Health and Welfare office on Tuesday with forms in hand for food stamp application.

She just lost her job and needs help to feed her 3-year-old, she said.

"Not having to pay cash for food, it can go toward bills," she said.

She still has confidence things will bounce back. All she needs is to find a job, she said, and she won't need assistance anymore.

In the meantime, the boost is welcome.

"It's nice this is available to help us out," she said.