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The pandemic has not been easy for Joao Santiago, a single mother raising a 7-year-old daughter. She contracted her COVID-19, was hospitalized for three months, was unemployed for four months, and was behind on her rent.
The Orlando woman applied for food stamps and emergency rental assistance, but received no response.
Two months after applying for food stamps, after 10 phone calls to her local state office, she reached out to someone to get the benefits she was entitled to before they expired.
Around the same time, she discovered that the state’s Department of Children and Families had lost her application for rental assistance. Now she works hard so she will never face eviction again.
“It’s like playing a game here so we can catch up,” said the 46-year-old Santiago.. “Some days I don’t think I can do this.”
Other residents have flooded the office of state legislator Anna Escamani, spending hours trying to book appointments to get food stamps, rent assistance, and Medicaid benefits.
“People are panicking that they will miss their benefits if they miss their interview appointments,” Escamani said on Friday.
Eskamani said an interview is required for benefits, but failure to contact government agencies within the required timeframe could result in delays in benefits or the need to reapply.
“The most common reaction is that the DCF is telling us to refer people to local continuing care, but of course they are not as social safety nets that their institutions are failing. Either it’s utilized or it’s not equipped,” Eskamani said.
She also hears from DCF caseworkers saying they are overwhelmed by the number of cases, which is more than double the 350 instead of the expected 150.
And those who signed up for Rental Assistance with Our Florida, DCF’s federally funded disaster relief program, are awaiting final checks or facing eviction, she said.
“There are very few people we are working with to receive final payments,” Escamani said.
DCF spokeswoman Mallory McManus said the agency’s staff “worked tirelessly to meet the needs of Florida residents affected by Hurricane Ian and those with ongoing economic needs. ‘ said.
The DCF has also suspended food stamp interview requirements from October through December “to facilitate the processing of new applications,” she said. Medicaid doesn’t require an interview, she added.
People can answer most questions by accessing their accounts electronically, McManus said.
DCF has streamlined the process for those in urgent need of food assistance, extending recertifications scheduled for October and November by six months, and extending the program to November 19 in Hurricane Ian-affected counties. was to eliminate the labor requirement until
Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Volusia counties in central Florida are under the disaster declaration.
The agency will also automatically replace USDA-approved September benefits in communities for families who have lost food in power outages and floods, and provide food stamp benefits to purchase hot food statewide. approved.
McManus also said that emergency food stamp phone lines are fully staffed, with more than 800 agents answering calls and waiting times of two to three minutes.
Our Florida stopped accepting new applications in May. The company said it would close the program after distributing $1 billion in federal rental subsidies. However, all applications received by May 12 were reviewed for eligibility before funding was made available.
But Escamani said there is virtually no way to expedite the case.
“We have sent eviction notices, families with young children, or medical conditions and have seen the transfer chains required by the DCF. [Our Florida] I don’t hear anything because of the update,” Escamani said. “These are mostly scenarios for people who recertified in May and are still waiting or kicked out.”
Escamani addressed Governor Ron DeSantis and DCF Executive Director Shevaun Harris on October 2, four days after Hurricane Ian made landfall in southwestern Florida, for food stamp benefits for people living in Florida. You said you were already worried about capacity issues when you sent the letter asking to enable . Disaster areas, replacement benefits, incidental benefits.
This was Santiago’s first time applying for food stamps. Her benefits were approved two months ahead of her, but she never received a card. While waiting, she received a letter a few weeks ago. It was a warning that she was losing her perks because she wasn’t using them.
She called 10 times on Thursday before finally leaving the phone on until someone answered 90 minutes later.
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“We found that the card was not issued,” she said. “No one could explain why the card wasn’t issued. Even the woman I spoke to didn’t know, but she said I got an extra benefit from Ian.
She was told it would take another 7 to 15 days to receive her rewards card in the mail, but the DCF staffer she spoke with said they would add a note to the file to ensure her rewards card was not revoked. rice field.
At Our Florida, we didn’t get a response the first time we applied, so we applied a second time.
“I finally spoke to someone and they said they couldn’t find the application, but when I looked online, I was able to find both applications,” says Santiago.
Instead, she received a 24-hour eviction notice and sold all household items, including her daughter’s bedroom set. “She cried to see it end,” Santiago said.
She raised enough to pay $5,000 of the $6,525 she borrowed, and now pays $1,400 in rent each month, in addition to paying the rest of her delinquency.
“If my application had gone through, I would have done well,” Santiago said.
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