CalFresh vs. General Relief amounts in San Bernardino County 2025?

General Relief in San Bernardino County is around $380/month for a single individual in 2025, but it's considered a loan that you'll need to repay when you get back on your feet. It's meant to be very temporary assistance. As for CalFresh, applying for GR shouldn't reduce your food benefits since GR is counted as unearned income but CalFresh has special rules for how they count it.

I got general relief in SB county last year and its actually $391 now I think?? BUT you have to do workfare hours or they cut you off!! Nobody told me this and i lost my benefits after 2 months because I missed some stupid appointment. The CalFresh office and GR office dont talk to eachother at ALL so you have to report everything twice its so annoying. And they take FOREVER to process applications omg

Just want to clarify something important - General Relief is NOT administered by the same division that handles CalFresh. In San Bernardino County, you'll need to apply separately through the Transitional Assistance Department (TAD). While both programs are under the same department, they have different eligibility workers and requirements. The current GR amount for San Bernardino is $391 for single individuals with the following requirements: 1. Must participate in job search activities 2. Must meet with eligibility worker monthly 3. Must repay the county when able 4. Resource limit of $1,000 And yes, this is actual cash assistance, not EBT like CalFresh.

If your trying to get more food assistance have you considered going to food banks instead of GR? The food banks in San Bernardino are actually pretty good. I go to one by the community college twice a month and get fresh produce and sometimes even meat. Way less paperwork than dealing with another govt program!

If you're struggling with getting through to San Bernardino County to ask about General Relief or managing your CalFresh case, try using Claimyr. I was stuck on hold for HOURS trying to talk to someone about my benefits, but Claimyr got me through to a real person in about 15 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8 and their website is claimyr.com. Saved me a ton of frustration when I needed to ask specific questions about my eligibility that weren't on the website.

JUST A WARNING: If you get General Relief they will make you apply for disability if they think you might qualify. My brother got GR last year and they forced him to apply for SSI even tho he didnt want to. Then they took most of his backpay when he got approved! Its such a scam!!!!!

Thanks everyone for the info! I'm going to think about this more before applying for GR. The workfare requirements might be hard with my current situation, and I didn't realize it was a loan. Might try to increase my CalFresh instead - does anyone know if I can request a benefit recalculation if my rent went up? That might help more than dealing with a whole new program.

i was on GR in san bernardino last year and it was exactly $391 but they take out money if u have ANY income even like $20 from returning bottles. they also make u do this thing called WEX where u gotta work for free for the county for like 20hrs a month. its better than nothing but barely covers anything tbh

OMG I just remembered! If youre getting CalFresh in SB County and u need a phone they also have the free LifeLine phone program!! You get a decent smartphone with like 5GB data and unlimited talk/text. At least thats something extra you could get while figuring out the GR stuff

Just wanted to add some perspective as someone who's been through both programs - I had CalFresh and GR at the same time about 6 months ago. The GR application process in San Bernardino took about 3 weeks, and yes they do make you sign paperwork acknowledging it's a loan. The workfare (WEX) program isn't too bad if you can get assigned to something close to where you live, but the transportation can be an issue. One thing nobody mentioned is that they also require you to check in with CalJOBS (the state job search website) regularly and document your job search activities. If you miss any of these requirements, they'll terminate your benefits pretty quickly. Honestly, reporting your rent increase to CalFresh first is probably the smarter move - way less headache and it won't affect your other benefits.

Hey! I'm in a similar situation - got CalFresh but it's not covering everything I need. Reading through all these responses, it sounds like reporting your rent increase to CalFresh is definitely the way to go first. The GR program seems really complicated with all the workfare requirements and the fact that it's actually a loan you have to pay back. I had no idea about that! Also didn't know they could make you apply for disability if they think you qualify. That's a lot of strings attached for $391/month. Have you tried calling the CalFresh office yet to ask about reporting the rent increase? From what everyone's saying, that could bump up your benefits significantly without all the GR hassle.

I'm new to this community but wanted to share what I learned when I was in a similar situation. I agree with everyone saying to report your rent increase to CalFresh first - that's definitely the easiest path forward. When I did this last year, my benefits went up by about $73/month which really helped stretch my food budget. One thing I wanted to add about General Relief - if you do decide to pursue it later, make sure you understand ALL the requirements upfront. The county workers don't always explain everything clearly during the application process. I'd recommend asking specifically about the WEX workfare hours, the job search documentation requirements, and exactly how the loan repayment works. Also ask if there are any exemptions from workfare if you have transportation issues or health problems. The food bank suggestion from Zara is solid too - many of them now offer delivery or pickup services if transportation is an issue. Some even partner with rideshare programs for people without cars. It might be worth calling around to see what options are available in your area while you're waiting for the CalFresh benefit increase to process.