Many elderly people are low-income, hungry or food insecure and in need of nutrition-related assistance. According to USDA, in 2000, 1,479,000 households with elderly people reported that they did not have enough of the right types of food needed to maintain their health or simply did not have enough to eat. However, only a small proportion of low-income elderly people participate in the Food Stamp Program. The reasons for nonparticipation include a lack of information, a perceived lack of need, low expected benefits, the time and hassle involved in applying, and the stigma of receiving public benefits.

This section of FRAC's web site provides information on issues surrounding senior nutrition (food stamps, other federal nutrition programs, etc.). It provides fact sheets and links to publications that contain information and links to publications and websites that contain information related to the elderly. For more detailed information, you can consult FRAC's Guide to the Food Stamp Program.

NEWS

    USDA Awards Grants to Six States to Improve Elderly Access to the Food Stamp Program

FRAC Materials

    Report: A Guide to the Supplemental Security Income/Food Stamp Program Combined Application Projects (added January 2004)

    Fact Sheet: The Elderly Nutrition Program

    Fact Sheet: The Administration on Aging and the Older Americans Act

    Fact Sheet: The Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program

    Fact Sheet: The Commodity Supplemental Food Program

    Impact of Food Stamp Reauthorization on the Elderly and Disabled          (PDF document, 32 kb)

    Fact Sheet: Food Stamps and the Elderly

    Food Stamp Program Rules for the Elderly

    Fact Sheet: The Minimum Food Stamp Benefit

Publications of Interest

    ERS, "Seniors' Views of the Food Stamp Program and Ways To Improve Participation—Focus Group Findings in Washington State"

    USDA, "The Nutrition Safety Net, Help for the Elderly and Disabled"

    Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., "Reaching the Working Poor and Poor Elderly Study (December 1999)"

    USDA, "10 Common Food Stamp Myths Concerning Senior Households"

    USDA, "Trends in FSP Participation Rates: Focus on 1994 to 1998 (November 2000)"

    USDA, "Characteristics of Food Stamp Households: Fiscal Year 2000 (Advance Report, July 2001)"

    USDA, "Characteristics of Food Stamp Households: Fiscal Year 1999 (December 2000)"

    USDA, Household Food Security 2000

Websites of Interest

    National Council on Aging, Benefits Checkup

    Florida International University, National Policy & Resource Center on Nutrition & Aging

    Florida International University, National Policy & Resource Center on Nutrition & Aging Links to Other Websites

     Administration on Aging