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Council member probes notification process for insufficient documentation in benefit applications
1:24:29
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123 sec
Council Member Cabán questions the agency's process for notifying applicants when submitted documentation is insufficient or unusable. The discussion reveals gaps in communication that can lead to delays in application approvals.
- The agency notifies applicants through notices but may not provide specific reasons for document insufficiency.
- Cabán highlights this as a problem, noting that lack of clear communication can lead to unnecessary delays.
- The exchange underscores the impact of these delays on vulnerable populations, affecting access to food and housing.
- Cabán emphasizes the need for clearer communication and simpler fixes to streamline the application process.
Tiffany Cabán
1:24:29
How if documentation is missing or unusable for some reason, right?
1:24:34
Like an example I'll give are if it's illegible or it's blurry for some reason, how does the agency notify the applicant or the participant?
Scott French
1:24:46
Well, in reviewing documents when someone is doing their interview, we will identify at that point if a document is not usable or they will be notified through, you know, a notice that we require another version of a document.
Tiffany Cabán
1:25:00
Okay.
1:25:01
And and when you aren't with them in person and you're sending out a notice, does do you explain why exactly why that submitted documentation is insufficient?
Scott French
1:25:13
The notice would indicate that it is needed, but I don't know that it would I don't believe it would necessarily provide the specific reason as to why.
Tiffany Cabán
1:25:22
That's a problem.
1:25:24
Mean, I just again, if they're not coming through our office and we're trying to figure it out together or we're keeping our own records about what they've submitted, you got a person getting a letter saying your doc your your submitted documentation is insufficient, and they have no idea why.
1:25:37
They don't know if it's because that document is the wrong document entirely.
1:25:40
They don't know that it's simply they sent a blurry copy of the document.
1:25:44
They don't know if like it just those are just like really, really simple things that would cut down the length of time between getting an application approved, which to the stories that we've heard today is like the difference between eating and not eating, the difference between keeping your home and not keeping your home.
1:26:05
And these are just I mean, to hear these reasons, which seem, you know, like they could be pretty pretty easy fixes are like when we have to tell our constituents who walk in the door that that this is what's happening, it's devastating.
1:26:25
And it's it's hard it's hard to do.
1:26:28
And it shouldn't happen.
1:26:30
I I wanna ask one more question if that's alright.
1:26:32
So the the there was data reported for local laws January and January that showed that a lot of case rejections or closures for both cash assistance and SNAP benefits were due to a failure to provide verification.