If the federal government shutdown doesn’t end this week, South Bend common council member Oliver Davis says the city should tap its cash reserves to help feed people who receive SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps.
Davis says he knows it might sound like a crazy use of city tax dollars, but he says these are crazy times.
“This is similar to almost a crisis time like Covid," Davis says. "And you have to go into that kind of mindset, that life is different. When the federal government is sending out notes today saying that there will not be any food or funds available starting Nov. 1, which is this Saturday, then it forces state, county and local leaders to say, ‘OK, what are we going to do about it?’”
He joined Black Lives Matter South Bend in calling on the city to spend some of its $82 million in reserves. They say it would cost about $4.8 million to spend $60 a week on each of the city's roughly 20,000 SNAP households in November.
After getting council approval, Davis says the city could send money directly to food pantries, like the one run by Portage Township Trustee Jason Critchlow. Critchlow says about one-third of SNAP recipients use it for less than a year.
“When they have a medical crisis, a crisis with a job, a crisis with a family member, they lose a spouse suddenly and they need that extra support to get them through that crisis, that’s what this program does," Critchlow says. "People who work but they’re struggling to make ends meet.”
But Mayor James Mueller issued a statement rejecting the idea, saying, “The city does not have the resources to fill the role of the federal government or backstop federal programs.”
