Food Stamps

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Places you can apply for food stamps (the first three are physical locations in the city of San Diego, California):
  • Urban Ministries: 2459 Market Street. Every Wednesday afternoon.
  • Catholic Charities: 349 Cedar Street (4th and Cedar)
  • Health and Welfare Office: 1130 10th Street (10th and C, near the YWCA). 7:30am to 5:00pm. 1-866-262-9881
  • Online: California residents can apply online. Just click here.
The first two are just organizations that will help you with your application. The application always goes to the Health and Welfare Office. I think they have a second location downtown, at or near a transit office. I have also been told there is a north county office somewhere in Oceanside but I don't have the address handy at the moment. I will try to update these addresses some time.

I do not know if the rules have changed, but when I applied, if you had under $100 in resources, it qualified you for "emergency application" status. This could potentially speed up the process. I inquired at a time when I was really broke and had we actually applied at that time, I might have gotten them quicker. By the time I actually did apply, I had gotten some emergency assistance from family and no longer was broke enough to qualify for this. I think it speeds the application process up from 30 days or less to 3 days.

Last updated September 11, 2019.