"Is the food stamp system the fall back for unemployed people whose unemployment benefits have run out. How does this affect any housing benefits so that folks can remain in their place of residence (i.e Shelter esp with one of the coldest winters forecast for a generation)?"

I'm not exactly sure what your question is, but I'm sure food stamps are separate from housing. The amount you get is dependent on income and how many people there are in your family.

I received food stamps for three months back in 1982 when I lost my job to the recession then, and it wasn't very much. I took a list and a calculator to try to get the most food value for the price. Then I would get behind a large woman with a bunch of kids and an overflowing basket full of junk food and soda and frozen prepared meals.

There seems to be some sort of multiplication equation involved, but I don't know how it works. Maybe if you're collecting other forms of welfare from the government you get more.

There are also Food Banks, that collect food and give it away to people who get food stamps (and maybe others, too), but I think you can only go there a few times a month. But the way things are now (not as good as the news media reports), the food banks are in dire straits due to more demand than they can supply.

Sue