Online boon for users of food stamps
ALMOST 80% of the city’s food stamp recipients are filing their applications online — one of several technological improvements officials say make it easier for the working hungry to get help.
“During the last four years, we’ve put in place strategies to fight hunger by making access to benefits for eligible families and individuals more readily available,” city Human Resources Administration Commissioner Steven Banks told the Daily News. “In contrast, the federal government is prepared to dramatically cut back the federal role and support for preventing hunger.”
In a city that receives about 24,000 applications a month for SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, 79% are filed online, Banks said, and more than 1 million people have signed up for accounts with HRA ACCESS online. That means less time waiting around in offices, Banks said.
“These are critical federal benefits that are intended to prevent hunger, and the caseload includes substantial numbers of working families and individuals for whom going to our offices to get these vital benefits means a choice between missing work and eating, and potentially losing their job in the process,” said Banks, a former Legal Aid attorney who recalled his own clients languishing in long lines.
For those who can’t file applications from home, the city also has rolled out computer banks and self-service kiosks at HRA offices to allow them to fill out forms and submit applications on their own. In addition, the city’s launched a smartphone app to allow people to file some forms by simply taking a photo and uploading them.
“As a Legal Aid lawyer, among the most frustrating interactions between clients and staff were, ‘I submitted the document,’ ‘We don’t have it,’ ‘Yes I did,’ ‘But we don’t have it,’ conversations,” he said. “And the mobile app allows documents to be submitted and a record to be created.”
The advancements come while the federal government has proposed changes to SNAP that will cut benefits and eligibility for millions in the country.