If you can afford to make mortgage payments on investment property, you don’t need food stamps. Get a job!

Yes you can the only thing is that they have a income limit if your income exceeds their limit then you won’t qualify or you’ll only receive for example $100 a month but if you’re income is $800 a month then you need another worker.

Food stamps are a safety net program. They are a program of last resort. If you own a rental property whether it is underwater or not then you are not poor. You certainly don’t qualify for food stamps on that alone.

Look at it this way…let’s assume the house is paid for and all you have coming in is $800 per month of rental income. That doesn’t eliminate the fact you own a home free and clear. You can sell the home and use the money to live on.

The same goes for what you have now. If you get food stamps for your situation, then every person who owns rental property could go out, mortgage it up to its market value and sign up for free food.

What matters is the net income of your rental income plus your wages. The fact that the property is underwater does not matter to the food stamps people.

Go through your tax return and figure out exactly what your net income is, and check it against the qualification for food stamps. You may want to try this website to work through the numbers yourself: http://www.benefitscheckup.org.