SNAP (Food Stamps) - Answers to Common Questions

Request a fair hearing. Many Alaskans are having their SNAP benefits delayed by months.  DPA must process most SNAP applications within 30 days. That means DPA has to either issue your benefits or send a denial notice within 30 days.

DPA has to process expedited SNAP benefits within 7 days. If your shelter expenses (rent or mortgage and utilities) are more than your income and resources in the month you apply, OR if you have less than $150 in income this month, then you are eligible for expedited SNAP.  DPA is required to interview most SNAP applicants before issuing benefits. They must schedule interviews quickly enough so that they can issue benefits within 30 days (or 7 days for expedited SNAP).

If DPA has delayed your SNAP application, request a Fair Hearing. 

Request a Fair Hearing. Many Alaskans are having their SNAP recertifications delayed by months. It is important to keep proof of when you submitted your recertification paperwork so that if benefits are restored you will receive the total amount for the entire time you were eligible.

If you submitted your recertification paperwork on time, DPA is required to tell you if you are eligible before the next certification period starts. Your Quest card should have been refilled on-time at the beginning of the following month.
If you submitted recertification paperwork on time but did not receive your benefits when you were supposed to, you should request a Fair Hearing. 

The Food Bank of Alaska can help with SNAP applications, you can call them at (907) 222-3119, email snap@foodbankofalaska.org, or text “SNAP” to (907) 891-8913 and follow the prompts.

DPA is required to interview  most  SNAP recipients at application and recertification, but many people find it impossible to get through on DPA’s phone line at the time scheduled for their interview.

DPA is supposed to deny, or accept and start SNAP benefits on, a new application within 30 days after they receive the application.  That means an interview must be completed before 30 days. If your interview is scheduled for more than 30 days from the day you applied, you should request a Fair Hearing.  If DPA's phone system made it impossible for you to call them for your interview, you should also request a Fair Hearing. 

If you live near one of DPA’s offices, you can get an interview in person at the office. If you live in rural Alaska, you may be able to get your interview completed by a “fee agent.” This is a community member who has been specially trained to help people with DPA paperwork.

Yes.
The PFD will not change the amount of SNAP benefits you receive.  However, the PFD does change the form of your benefits. Through the PFD Hold Harmless program, benefits are provided to any person who would lose SNAP because they receive or keep PFD money.  Benefits that month will be sent as in a check form.  However, if a household retains the PFD for longer than 4 months, it becomes a “resource” and is counted towards the resource limits when determining eligibility.

In 2023, the Division of Public Assistance (DPA) started having SNAP recipients fill out an interim report, as part of its move to longer SNAP certification periods. The interim report is a one page form that asks if there have been any changes in the household since the SNAP benefits were approved. It must be filled out and sent back to DPA within 10 days of receiving the form. 

Submit the form in a way that will let you prove that you did it, like by email or by using DPA’s portal and taking a screenshot of the submission. 
If your SNAP benefits stop after an interim report.request a fair hearing.

DPA is required to review a small random sample of cases periodically as part of a quality assessment. If you get a quality assessment letter, that means that your SNAP case has been selected for review. DPA must re-interview you and review all of your income and expenses to see if they correctly processed your benefits. Do not ignore the letter; your benefits could be terminated if DPA finds that you failed to cooperate.  

If your SNAP benefits are terminated for failure to comply with the quality assessment report requirement, contact ALSC.

Who is included in a SNAP case is different from other benefits.  Only one SNAP case can exist for a group of people who live together and purchase and prepare food together, even if they are not immediate family members or legal dependents.  One person may apply and receive benefits on behalf of the entire household. For example: 

• A grandparent, parent, and two minor children who live together and purchase and prepare food together would have only one SNAP case. 
• An unmarried couple who live together and purchase and prepare food together would have only one SNAP case.
• Adult siblings who live under the same roof, but buy and prepare their own food separately would have their own separate SNAP cases.  

Spouses, children, and young adults under 22 years old and living with their parents are considered part of the same household for SNAP purposes, even if they purchase and prepare their meals separately.  

How some other common living situations are handled for SNAP purposes are addressed below.

Yes.

Children under 18 may file for SNAP benefits individually as a separate household when they are not under the parental control of an adult.  Parental control means living with one or both parents or an adult that is caring for a child as if they were the child’s parent (meaning they provide basic needs such as housing, meals, etc.).
If you are under 18 and have your own place, are homeless, or otherwise not under parental control, you may apply for SNAP benefits.

Yes.

A child living on their own who is homeless – which includes temporary living arrangements that last less than 90 days – may apply for SNAP.
However, if you continue living with your friend’s family for more than 90 days, this will no longer be considered a temporary living arrangement, and you would be considered part of the friend’s household.  SNAP eligibility would then be based on that whole household. 

A child who is not your own, but is living with you, counts as a member of your household for SNAP purposes if the child is financially dependent on you. 

If you are caring for the child as a licensed foster parent, you may choose whether to include the child in your household for SNAP purposes.  If you choose to include a foster child, then the foster care payment you receive will be counted as household income.

Yes. DPA has a complaint system, separate and apart from the fair hearing system. Anyone can file a complaint. The agency has a system to review complaints, and a DPA supervisor or manager must offer a conference to you if you have filed a complaint. DPA is required to compile a record of the complaints and the outcomes and is supposed to review them at least once a year to find any patterns of problems. It has to report the results to the Food and Nutrition Service, the federal agency that oversees SNAP. 

Remember that the complaint system is not the way to fix problems with your benefits. If your benefits are delayed, incorrect, or denied, you should file a fair hearing. 

To file a complaint, complete the DPA GEN-87 form. Follow this link to complete the form and see instructions about how to submit it.