The first four months of Fiscal Year 2024 saw timely processing of just 14.3 percent of cash assistance applications—a new low—and 41.6 percent of SNAP applications. Delays can have serious consequences for applicants, from hunger to missed rent payments that can put families at risk of eviction.
January 30, 2024 https://citylimits.flywheelstaging.com/2024/01/30/nyc-still-slow-to-process-most-food-stamp-cash-aid-applications/“Sustainable food justice legislation must center food rescue efforts and make it a standard that all food-producing and handling businesses must meet.”
December 1, 2023 https://citylimits.flywheelstaging.com/2023/12/01/opinion-food-rescue-is-the-key-to-solving-food-insecurity/“If you get cash assistance, you are caught up in really significant delays, in a way that you would not be if you were only receiving SNAP,” said Katie Kelleher of the Legal Aid Society, a lead attorney on a federal lawsuit compelling the city to improve its processing times.
August 17, 2023 https://citylimits.flywheelstaging.com/2023/08/17/new-yorkers-see-uneven-improvement-in-food-stamp-cash-assistance-delays/“People experiencing food insecurity deserve more than the calorie-dense, ultra processed bare minimum. That means choice of food and access to options should not solely be a privilege of the wealthy.”
August 14, 2023 https://citylimits.flywheelstaging.com/2023/08/14/opinion-feeding-hungry-people-is-not-enough/“The focus on cutting life-saving programs like SNAP as a method to reduce the government debt is disingenuous, at best, and self-serving and cynical at worst. Taxing the rich would be a far more effective way to address the debt.”
May 5, 2023 https://citylimits.flywheelstaging.com/2023/05/05/opinion-targeting-snap-with-work-requirements-misses-the-point/Over half of New York City food stamp applicants are forced to wait for their benefits to arrive as staff at the understaffed Human Resources Administration fail to keep pace with demand. The state’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance has declined to issue a waiver that would relieve the backlog.
December 23, 2022 https://citylimits.flywheelstaging.com/2022/12/23/as-nycs-food-stamp-crisis-worsens-state-agency-withholds-relief/“While record youth turnout across the country enabled Democrats to hold the U.S. Senate and make gains in swing districts barely won by President Joe Biden, the New York vote looked more like the pre-Trump era of apathy and disengagement.”
November 30, 2022 https://citylimits.flywheelstaging.com/2022/11/30/opinion-how-ny-democrats-and-gov-hochul-can-win-back-young-voters/The city’s Human Resources Administration (HRA) failed to promptly process four of every 10 applications for the benefits during fiscal year 2022, when the rate of timely processing plummeted from about 92 percent in fiscal year 2021 to just over 60 percent.
November 10, 2022 https://citylimits.flywheelstaging.com/2022/11/10/40-of-nyc-food-stamp-applicants-left-waiting-for-benefits-data-shows/Superstorm Sandy spared the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, New York City’s most important food source. But a decade later, little has changed when it comes to storm resiliency at the low-lying markets, and a disaster could have a major impact for the city’s restaurants, shops and food pantries.
October 27, 2022 https://citylimits.flywheelstaging.com/2022/10/27/spared-by-sandy-hunts-point-food-market-slow-to-address-flood-risk/Advocates and progressive lawmakers have slammed the moves for a lack of transparency and for further separating detainees from their communities, families, and attorneys. Meanwhile, about 20 detainees who remained at the New York jail were moved to another unit within the facility, which uses a different communications system that has made it harder for them to stay in touch with their attorneys, detainees and their lawyers told City Limits.
October 6, 2022 https://citylimits.flywheelstaging.com/2022/10/06/communication-issues-at-ny-jail-after-transfer-of-ice-detainees/
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