Approved for $189 CalFresh for family of 6 but no IRT requirement - normal?

This is actually normal! When your CalFresh benefits are below a certain threshold (I believe around $200 currently), you're considered a "minimal issuance household" and aren't assigned an IRT. Basically, the county has determined that even with normal income fluctuations, your benefit amount wouldn't change significantly enough to warrant mid-period reporting. You'll still need to complete your SAR7 at the six-month mark, but you don't have to report income changes before then unless your household income goes over 130% of the Federal Poverty Level (which would be around $4,250 monthly for a family of 6 in 2025).

thats a really small amount for 6 people! did u report all ur bills? u should ask for a recalculation because that doesnt sound right at all. my cousin has 4 kids and gets like $900 even with her husband working

The same thing happened to me! I got approved for only $95 for me and my two teenagers, and my letter also said no IRT. My caseworker explained that households getting the minimum benefit don't have to report income changes until the SAR7 or recertification. BUT BE CAREFUL - you still have to report if someone moves out of your household or if you move to a different county. I didn't report when my oldest moved out for college and got in trouble for it!

It sounds like your household is at what's called the "minimal benefit tier" for CalFresh. For 2025, households receiving under $200 typically don't get assigned an IRT. The reasoning is that with your husband's current income level, small fluctuations won't change your eligibility status much. However, I would recommend double-checking your benefit calculation. $189 for a family of 6 seems quite low. Did you make sure they counted all deductions correctly? Things like: - Your full rent/mortgage amount - Utility costs (or did they apply the standard utility allowance?) - Childcare expenses for any children under 18 - Any medical expenses for elderly or disabled household members - Child support payments if applicable It might be worth calling your county office to request a detailed breakdown of how they calculated your benefit amount.

Honestly this is why the system is so broken!!! A family of 6 getting $189?? That's like $1 per day per person. How is anyone supposed to feed their kids on that??? Meanwhile I know people with no kids getting more. The whole system needs to be fixed. Sorry you're dealing with this.

I had to call the county office about a similar issue last month. Waited on hold for almost 2 hours before giving up. Then I found this service called Claimyr that got me through to a actual CalFresh worker in like 15 minutes! They called the county line for me and then connected me when they reached someone. Worth checking out at claimyr.com if you need to talk to someone about your benefit calculation. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8

not having an irt means u dont have to do the sar7 forms every 6 months i think

Update: I called my county office and they explained that we ARE getting the correct amount based on our income and expenses. The worker confirmed that since we're getting less than $200, we don't have an IRT but still need to do the SAR7 in six months. She said if my husband's income drops significantly before then (like if his hours get cut), we should report it anyway because we might qualify for more. Thanks everyone for your help understanding this!

Thanks for sharing this update! It's really helpful to see how this all worked out. I'm in a similar situation with a family of 5 and was wondering about the IRT thing too. Quick question - when the worker said to report if your husband's income drops significantly, did she give you any specific threshold? Like how much of a drop would be worth reporting? I'm trying to figure out if small weekly variations in my spouse's hours are worth calling about or if I should wait for bigger changes.