State misses food assistance payments to countless Georgians - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

2 years ago 29

In interviews and comments online, Georgians who person benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program accidental that the authorities hasn’t paid their nutrient stamps successful caller weeks and successful immoderate cases, months. The Department of Human Services says they are present paying retired what radical are owed successful bulk sums, aft the national authorities gave them exigency support to temporarily skip a measurement that is usually mandatory, for radical who person completed the paperwork for renewals from August to October.

The Department of Human Services’ societal media pages person been flooded with complaints from Georgians who are hopeless to cognize erstwhile their nutrient assistance is going to travel through. When DHS posted an update that the lagged benefits volition travel done this week, galore Facebook users said they hoped it was true.

“All we tin bash is commune astatine this point,” 1 poster said. “Lord knows immoderate of america are retired present connected [our] past repast and dime, and there’s thing been done astir it.”

DHS spokesperson Kylie Winton said SNAP recipients should expect to person nutrient stamp payments earlier Thanksgiving for this month, arsenic good arsenic immoderate period that whitethorn person been missed. Deloitte, the vendor for the state, is projecting that recipients volition beryllium paid by the holiday, Winton said.

Winton said ostentation and workforce shortages caused an summation successful SNAP applications and renewals, causing the backlog successful approvals. She said the bureau was incapable to accidental however galore applications person been delayed successful caller months.

She said the national authorities past Friday approved a petition from Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services, the bureau that administers SNAP benefits, to widen the eligibility of those who person renewals pending with the authorities for six months. DHS couldn’t supply an nonstop fig of Georgians who person nutrient assistance. As of June, more than 900,000 households were receiving SNAP benefits, averaging $336 a month, according to the state’s website.

“Our vendor that administers the ... portal volition enactment done the play to marque the due strategy updates to trigger benefits for these customers earlier the Thanksgiving holiday,” Winton said Friday.

Those payments are expected to beryllium distributed this week.

Kathy Islar, 60, said successful an interrogation that she hasn’t gotten her nutrient stamps successful 2 months.

As of this week she was told she is wholly chopped disconnected from nutrient stamps, due to the fact that she did not taxable the due paperwork. She says she dropped disconnected her papers successful idiosyncratic earlier the deadline. Now her lawsuit is closed.

Islar, who is diabetic, said she can’t spend to bargain the indispensable steadfast groceries retired of pocket. She lives connected a fixed income successful Statesboro, and is present trying to marque trips to nutrient banks. But she said she doesn’t ever person a mode to get there.

“It’s hard, it is truthful hard,” she said. “You beryllium present and combat your tears and symptom due to the fact that you don’t cognize erstwhile you’re going to get thing decent to eat.”

Jovi Iovine and his woman trust connected $800 a period from a paycheck and nutrient stamps arsenic a mode to provender their 2 children. He tried to renew nutrient stamps past month, and truthful acold he’s received nary denotation that the renewal volition spell through. Iovine, whose household lives successful Nashville, Ga. is fearful that they volition person to forgo nutrient for the holidays.

“I don’t deliberation it’s just to my kids to not person Thanksgiving,” said Iovine, who is 37. “We’re okay, close this second. But wrong a week, there’ll beryllium thing near for the kids.”

Iovine said his household has called 5 antithetic telephone numbers successful the past week and couldn’t get immoderate answers. Then connected Monday, the household spoke to a idiosyncratic astatine the section DFCS bureau who said they would beryllium getting the wealth earlier the Thursday holiday. As of Tuesday morning, they inactive hadn’t been paid.

“We were figuring it retired due to the fact that we’ve been doing truthful overmuch research. We’ve been trying to get a clasp of anybody that works for SNAP services to assistance us,” helium said. “And we’ve been trying for implicit a week.”

At the authorities level, DHS is offering overtime for unit to marque definite these applications are processed. Winton besides said that recipients should support submitting the due paperwork connected time, truthful that they tin wide the backlog earlier the national authorities hold expires.

Moving forward, Winton said that the section volition enactment with the national authorities to marque definite this doesn’t hap again.

“We proceed to research ways to unafraid much flexibility from the national authorities to process cases much rapidly and efficiently,” Winton said.

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