California has been approved to issue Disaster CalFresh in Butte, Napa, Sonoma and Santa Clara Counties for persons affected by the wildfires.
Disaster CalFresh provides food assistance to households affected by natural disasters. To be eligible, families must live or work in the disaster area, plan to purchase food during the benefit period, experience adverse effects from the disaster and meet Disaster CalFresh income guidelines.
Disaster CalFresh has three verification requirements: identity, residency and loss or inaccessibility of income, and household composition and food loss, if questionable. Benefits should be issued within 72 hours of application.
The application period is Wednesday October 28 to Friday October 30 and Monday November 2 to Thursday November 5. For Santa Clara County, the application period is Monday November 2 to Friday November 6 and Monday November 9 to Tuesday November 10. Applications can be submitted by phone, online or in person. Applications will not be accepted by mail. Applicants can verbally attest to information. Verification can be submitted, using the Disaster CalFresh pre-registration tool, the SAWS client portals, secure email or fax, and in person at application sites. Pre-registration will be available from October 21 to October 27. For Santa Clara County, pre-registration will be available from October 26 to October 30.
The start date of the disaster for Napa, Santa Clara and Sonoma Counties is August 14, 2020. The start date of the disaster for Butte County is September 7, 2020. (ACWDL, October 16, 2020.)