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Many SNAP applicants face delays
Many Texas families who need food assistance the most are still waiting months for their SNAP applications to be processed.
HOUSTON - Many Texas families who need food assistance the most are still waiting months for their SNAP applications to be processed.
After letters from whistleblowers about the delays, the agency that administers SNAP says they're making changes to speed things up.
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Federal law requires applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to be processed in 30 days.
But delays have been reported since 2021, and whistleblowers say some applicants are waiting as long as six months.
We reached out to Target Hunger, which helps people who need food.
Target Hunger's Anna Cantu helps Spanish-speaking people in need apply for SNAP benefits.
"Right now I have 10 to 15 clients that they say are still waiting," said Cantu. "They are very concerned because obviously they need the assistance, the benefits."
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Cantu says some of her clients have been waiting two months, including one who applied in September.
"She has a baby, and she says she needs to use the benefits to buy formula sometimes. So most of the things they need to buy at the store, groceries or groceries that we don’t have sometimes in our pantry programs, so they really need the benefits," explained Cantu.
Anonymous whistleblowers, who say they work for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, have sent letters to Governor Abbott and other officials. In a letter dated November 21, 2023, stating, "Texans are currently facing significant delays in the receipt of food assistance. ... The delay is currently over six months ...."
Central Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett was among several Democratic Congress members who wrote to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, asking it to investigate the delays.
HHSC sent us a statement saying that it is moving and training hundreds of staff to handle applications, and has boosted pay to increase employee retention. It explains that most of the delayed applications are people applying for SNAP and another program, such as Medicaid or TANF, which requires workers trained to process both.
"In October, 74.23% of SNAP applications were processed within 30 days, and 87% of SNAP expedited applications were processed within the federal timeliness standard of 7 days. Federal guidance requires HHSC to redetermine eligibility for six million Medicaid clients over the course of 12 months. Due to the redetermination process for all Medicaid clients and the processing of an increase in SNAP applications, our lead time is higher than normal.
"HHSC is moving aggressively to implement additional strategies to increase staffing capacity to reduce the number of SNAP applications in the queue. The majority of those applications are people who are applying for SNAP and another benefit program, such as Medicaid or TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). This requires a worker who is trained in both programs to process the application. HHSC is moving 250 eligibility staff from other priority projects to focus on processing applications that request SNAP and another benefit. Additionally, within the next five months, HHSC will be sending 600 of our newer staff to Medicaid training. This will also increase our capacity to process more SNAP and Medicaid combined applications.
"In an effort to increase staffing levels, HHSC has implemented workforce recruitment and retention initiatives including job fairs, on-the-spot interviews at local offices, flexible work arrangements, and pay increases. While we do experience turnover, our annualized turnover rate this year is significantly lower than last year. We have also augmented our training capacity by leveraging technology, strengthening the quality of the virtual learning products and scheduling, and standardizing On-the-Job Trainings to promote accelerated readiness for independent casework. HHSC has reduced eligibility advisor vacancies from 21.2% in March 2022 to 3.67% as of Nov. 2. In August 2022, HHSC increased base salaries for clerks, eligibility advisors and supervisors. Frontline eligibility advisors received up to a 25% salary increase, which has improved retention among current staff and strengthen recruitment efforts to further boost eligibility operations capacity."
We asked the anonymous whistleblowers about these efforts. They wrote back to FOX 26, refuting some of the changes:
"Our leadership has reported to the governor's office (and in turn he made a statement to the media) that we are shifting 250 staff from other areas of the agency to assist with the backlog. This is very misleading as all of the staff mentioned are not from other areas of the agency they are all from the our division which handles the eligibility determination. In addition, these same staff have been working on the SNAP and Medicaid backlogs for months. The statement gave the impression that "new" resources are being added, which is not accurate. There was also mention of 600 staff being sent to Medicaid training which would allow the backlog to be cut in half by mid December. Again, this isn't accurate as the training could take up to two months to complete before those staff are ever assigned any cases to process."
The whistleblowers add, "It is difficult for a parent to explain to their child that our agency doesn't consider the 60,000 (and counting, as this number increases daily based on the date the application was received) individuals who have been waiting six months on us to process their case important enough to take immediate action."
HHSC says SNAP applicants can get the status of their applications by going to YourTexasBenefits.com, calling 211 option 2, or visiting an HHSC office or community partner. Those who need food assistance right away can call 211 to find food pantries and other assistance programs.