City Admits That Under Half of SNAP Applications Are Processed on Time

by Mindy Cohn

During yesterday's oversight hearing on food insecurity, City officials admitted to City Council members that they can only process 49.9% of the  Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applications on time.

This is progress over the December rate of 19.2% of SNAP applications being processed, neither of which meets the City's target rate of 91%.

The meeting comes as the City faces a lawsuit filed in January after thousands of New Yorkers were left waiting more than a month for their benefits to be processed, violating federal law.

The agency has hired more than 100 new employees to process the nearly 43,000 people who apply for SNAP per month. The new hires are allowing applications to be filed faster, improving turnover time from December when a fifth of the budgeted positions were vacant.

photo credit: flickr