CalFresh emergency allotments ended? My monthly amount suddenly cut in half for family of 3

The extra COVID emergency allotments for CalFresh ended in April 2025. Everyone is back to receiving just their regular base benefit amount. There should have been notices sent out about this change, but many people report not receiving them. The base benefit is calculated on your income, household size, and expenses - that's why you're seeing about half of what you were getting before.

same thing happened to me last week!!! only got $412 instead of my usual $890 for me and my 2 kids. nobody told us anything about this. how r we supposed to feed our families with half the money??

This is absolutely by design. They NEVER intended to keep helping us. They claim inflation is down but food costs more than ever. I got a 3% raise and my rent went up 8% and now they slash our food assistance in half?? Classic government move to hurt the working class. Been on CalFresh for 4 years and they always find new ways to cut benefits. Next they'll probably make recertification even harder.

To clarify some confusion: The emergency allotments were always meant to be temporary during the COVID public health emergency. What you're seeing now is your regular CalFresh benefit amount based on your household size, income, and expenses. If your circumstances have changed (higher rent, new childcare costs, reduced hours at work), you should report these changes as they might increase your regular benefit amount. You can submit these changes through your BenefitsCal account or by submitting verification documents to your county office. Also, the next SAR7 you submit would be a good opportunity to make sure all your current expenses are documented.

I've been trying to reach my county worker for 3 days to ask about this same issue! The automated system just keeps disconnecting me after 45+ minutes on hold. Has anyone had luck actually reaching a human at the CalFresh office? I need to update my expenses to hopefully get my benefit amount increased since the emergency allotments ended.

Something else to consider - if your income hasn't changed but your expenses have increased (rent, utilities, childcare), you should definitely report those changes right away. Changes in expenses that exceed $100 can be reported mid-period and might increase your base benefit amount. Make sure to submit verification documents (lease agreement, utility bills, childcare receipts). Also, your county office should be able to explain exactly how your benefit amount was calculated if you have questions about why it's the specific amount you're seeing.

my friend told me they might bring the extra benefits back next month is that true???

Update: I finally got through to my county office! My worker confirmed what everyone here said about the emergency allotments ending. She helped me update my expenses (my rent went up and I had never reported my full utility costs before). My benefit amount will increase to $422 next month, which is still less than before but better than $337. Thanks everyone for the help and information!

I'm dealing with the same situation - my benefits dropped from $580 to $294 for my household of 2. It's really helpful reading everyone's experiences here. I had no idea the emergency allotments were temporary, and like others mentioned, I never received any notice about this change. I'm going to try updating my expenses since my utilities have gone up significantly this winter. Has anyone had success getting their county office to backdate expense changes, or do they only apply going forward? Also wondering if there are any other food assistance programs I should look into to help bridge this gap.