[ad_1]
The city’s Human Resources Administration (HRA) failed to expedite 4 out of 10 food stamp applications during fiscal 2022, and the timely processing rate plummeted from about 92% in 2021 to just over 60%. did.
Adi Talwar
Bianca Herrera in her Bronx apartment. The mother of two children, she says it took her more than a year to get her family’s food stamp recertified. “It was really devastating to think about how I could buy food every day,” she said.
Chronic delays in processing food stamp applications have left thousands of low-income New Yorkers busy paying for groceries and waiting for benefits to arrive last year, according to city data.
According to the mayor’s annual management report, the city’s Human Resources Administration (HRA) will expedite 4 out of 10 applications for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, commonly known as food stamps, during fiscal 2022. I could not do it. The timely processing rate, considered a “key indicator” of agency performance, increased from about 92% in fiscal 2021 to the fiscal period from July 1, 2021 to his June 30, this year. plummeted to just over 60%.
Monthly benefits are issued electronically to the card and income-qualified beneficiaries can use them to purchase groceries at supermarkets, bodega’s and farmers’ markets. SNAP is considered the most important hunger program in the country, but any delays can have immediate and tangible consequences for families in need. Applicants who have already been approved for eligibility must recertify periodically. And if the process takes too long, funds on which households rely can suddenly become unavailable.
“A lot of people are going through this problem right now,” said a Crown Heights mother named Thompson who asked not to use her first name because she’s a survivor of domestic violence. They’re pregnant, they have kids, they can’t make a living, but they’re trying.”
Thompson, 27, said he waited nearly a month for his family’s $600 monthly SNAP benefits after recertifying them in September. As the weeks went by, she said she was forced to pawn the tablet and jewelry, including a new engagement ring. She hasn’t told her fiancée where the missing ring is.
The HRA attributed the 30% drop in timely processing to an “unprecedented increase in applications and the end of federal exemptions that have slowed recertification” in the previous year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal and state governments have allowed SNAP recipients to skip the recertification interview, but still receive important benefits.
More than 1.7 million New Yorkers in one million households received food stamps last fiscal year, down slightly from 2021, the mayor reports. During the pandemic, SNAP applicant numbers skyrocketed. In New York City, the unemployment rate hit 16.2%, thousands of businesses closed, and many New Yorkers struggled to find consistent work that paid a living wage. Over the past two years, the number of new applicants has increased by more than 50% compared to fiscal 2019, according to HRA.
At the same time, HRA lost hundreds of employees. This has been a common problem across municipal employees since the pandemic began. According to information provided by the city’s Independent Budget Office (IBO), about 15% of the HRA’s 13,044 budget positions were vacant on December 31, 2021, halfway through the last fiscal year.
The problem is only getting worse. As of October 31st of this year, an additional 710 positions were vacant, bringing the staff vacancy rate to about 20%, according to IBO data.
Despite staffing issues and the number of applications, agency staff are still able to connect more households to SNAP than in recent years, according to HRA. But that offers little consolation for New Yorkers struggling to support their families without the immediate benefits they deserve.
Adi Talwar
Supermarket in Inwood.
Bianca Herrera, 26, from the Bronx, said she spent more than a year trying to get her family’s food stamps back after they were revoked due to an HRA reauthorization error. Herrera, a single mother of two young daughters, said her direct appeal, known as a fair hearing, to challenge her dismissal was denied. She said her automated process made it difficult to talk to a real person to resolve the issue.
“After having to go many times, [benefit office] I begged them to reactivate my SNAP, but they basically just gave me bogus promises.”Every time I went there, I felt invisible.”
Herrera said she finally received food stamps and a year of retroactive benefits on Wednesday while City Limits reported the story. She said she had to borrow money from her friends and relatives for months.
“It all took a toll on me. It was really devastating, wondering how I could buy food every day,” she said.
For Leslie Martinez and her family of five, the wait was three days earlier this month. But even that seemingly short delay forced her to withdraw from her $200 cash aid she was receiving each month, disrupting her family’s precarious budget for the rest of November. rice field.
“Everything is very expensive,” she said, citing inflation that has pushed the average price of groceries up 13% over the past year. I choose the cheapest and go to the cheapest place.”
She lost her job when the Bronx Dollar Tree closed last year and said she’s struggled to buy affordable food ever since. She said she didn’t.
As food stamp delays worsened, timely processing of cash assistance (small monthly payments for lowest-income New Yorkers) also dropped from 95.4% in FY21 to 82.3% last year. The processing of cash assistance is also considered a “key indicator” of agency performance.
Adi Talwar
Hunger and food insecurity have quickly emerged as one of the most pressing problems facing New Yorkers during the pandemic. Here, residents line up at one of the city’s free dining hubs in May 2020.
SNAP benefits are fully funded by the federal government, and state and local governments cover the operating costs of the program. In addition to helping families buy food, the profits have an important economic function: food stamp payments are quickly reinvested in local businesses.
But the time lag could destabilize a growing number of New Yorkers, said Adriana Mendoza, head of benefits for The Safety Net Project. Mendoza and her team worked with Herrera, Martinez, and Thompson to restore their profits.
Over the past year, Mendoza said the organization has seen a “massive influx” of families waiting more than 60 days to access SNAP benefits due to processing delays.
“Families are struggling to keep food on the table, especially as the cost of inflation rises, and the city may not be able to access the SNAP benefits that people are entitled to, instead of dealing with this crisis. It’s getting harder,” Mendoza said. “The city must respond to this crisis and provide immediate benefits within the timeframe required by law.”
Some recent rule changes should have made SNAP access easier and HRAs more accountable for errors, terminations, and delays. The change came after a viral video went viral in December 2018 of police and security guards pulling a baby away from its mother inside a benefit office in Brooklyn, sparking outrage.
Since 2015, New Yorkers have been able to submit their food stamp applications online and complete an eligibility interview with HRA staff over the phone instead of going to a benefits office. According to the mayor’s administration report, nearly 97% of her applicants submitted their documents electronically, including her ID and income eligibility forms. This is up from his 78% five years ago. In 2017, the city launched an app that allows people to apply for assistance from their mobile devices.
“These reforms have enabled SNAP’s clients to conduct business with HRA from the safety of their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic,” HRA wrote in the mayor’s report.
By law in 2019, HRA was mandated to report on client complaints and questions annually. In 2021, his 16,163 households receiving SNAP benefits filed the same complaint, according to the report, while 7,730 households reported “skipping benefits” more than double. is shown to have called for one year ago.
Two other local laws enacted in 2019 require the HRA to issue quarterly reports on the number of closed and reopened benefit applications. The city had not released these legally required reports since Mayor Eric Adams took office until the city council asked last month.
Data show that more than 37,000 SNAP applicants were denied and about 90,000 more cases were closed in the most recent quarter reported from April to June this year. “Failure to recertify” accounts for more than a third of his case closures.
About 37,000 cases were reopened over the same span, the report shows.
Meanwhile, the city has moved to close several welfare offices, including the controversial decision to close the Harlem site.
Thompson, a mother of two at Crown Heights, said such application churn and subsequent processing delays only complicate a tough situation.
“I have to ask around to see if I can get the money. Then ask my dad and hear the whole speech from him.” of?”
Having trouble applying for or recertifying your SNAP benefits in NYC? Tell us about your experience.
[ad_2]
Source link
