Moved to California mid-2020 - am I eligible for CalFresh pandemic relief payments?

The payments you're asking about are probably the P-EBT (Pandemic EBT) retroactive payments for 2020-2021. Unfortunately, these were primarily for households with school-age children who qualified for free/reduced school meals during the pandemic school closures. They weren't general relief payments for all CalFresh recipients. If you don't have kids who were school-age during that time, you likely wouldn't qualify regardless of when you moved to California.

i think ur mixing up different benefits!! the golden state stimulus wasn't connected to calfresh at all, it was based on ur tax filing and income. P-EBT was for families w/ kids and theres no new 'relief payment' coming for regular calfresh that i know of??

To clarify the different payments you might be referring to: 1. Golden State Stimulus I & II (2021): Required filing 2020 CA taxes, having CA address, and meeting income requirements. Since you moved mid-2020, you might not have qualified if you didn't meet the minimum CA-earned income threshold. 2. P-EBT: As mentioned, this was for households with children eligible for free/reduced school meals. 3. California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) extensions: There were some pandemic-related extensions, but these automatically appeared on your EBT card if you qualified. There is no new general "relief payment" coming specifically for all CalFresh recipients. If you're concerned about missed benefits, your best option is to contact your county CalFresh office directly. You can look up your county office contact information on the CDSS website.

i was in a similar situation moving from nevada in 2020 and missed out on some benefits too. one thing i learned is that each county handles calfresh differently. which county are you in? my worker in san diego actually helped me figure out what i qualified for even tho i was new to CA.

If you're trying to reach LA County DPSS, good luck! I spent THREE WHOLE DAYS trying to get through to a human last month about my SAR7. Eventually I used Claimyr and got through in 20 minutes. Changed my life! You just go to claimyr.com and they call the office for you and hold your place in line, then call you back when they reach a real person. There's a video about how it works here: https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8 Totally worth it to actually talk to a person who can check your specific situation. They can tell you exactly what you were/weren't eligible for and why.

I'm pretty sure I got what you're talking about. Was it the extra COVID emergency allotments that were added to CalFresh each month? Those ended in March 2023 for everyone. They were giving all households the maximum benefit amount for their household size regardless of income during the pandemic, but that program ended. There's no new payment coming that I know of. For the Golden State Stimulus, you had to be a CA resident for more than half the year in 2020 AND meet the income requirements. If you moved in June, that's right at the halfway mark so maybe that's why? Did you use a CA address when you filed?

THIS IS WHY THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN!!! They never properly communicate about benefits. They expect people to magically know which programs they qualify for and how to apply. Then when you try to call, you're stuck in an endless hold loop. I've been on CalFresh for 5 years and STILL don't understand half the programs. The EBT website is from 1995 I swear!!

One important thing to understand is that California has residency requirements for most benefit programs. For the Golden State Stimulus specifically, you needed to be a California resident for more than half of the 2020 tax year. Since you moved in June, that's right at the halfway mark, and it would depend on exactly which date in June you established residency. For CalFresh eligibility, residency isn't about how long you've lived in California but simply that you currently live here. The emergency allotments that were added during COVID would have been applied automatically to your EBT card if you were receiving CalFresh at that time. If you have specific questions about your eligibility for past benefits, I'd recommend reaching out to your county CalFresh office with your case number ready. They can see your specific history and eligibility in their system.