Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
Q&A
Support and food assistance for new shelter residents
1:35:45
ยท
3 min
Council Member Ayala and Jill Berry from DSS discuss the process of supporting new shelter residents and connecting them to food assistance and benefits. Berry explains the efforts to improve this process and the resources available to shelter residents.
- DSS is working with shelter providers to connect eligible residents to benefits
- Shelters are provided with information about Access HRA and the provider portal
- Emergency food pantries are expected to be maintained in family shelters with kitchens
- Information about nearby community kitchens and food pantries should be provided to residents
Diana Ayala
1:35:45
When a person enters a shelter without any source of income, what support does HRA provide to help them access food and other benefits and when in where in the process of entering the shelter does that occur?
Jill Berry
1:35:59
So the the first thing we we try to that we do and we have been doing a lot of work with the shelter providers recently is to connect people who are eligible for benefits to benefits.
1:36:11
And we've been providing shelters with a lot of information about Access HRA and the provider portal so they can support clients.
1:36:22
We're also providing shelters with a lot more information about who in their shelter is in receipt of benefits already and who is not in receipt of benefits so they know which of their shelter residents to target for benefits applications.
1:36:38
And we're going to start looking at which shelters are doing better jobs than others and those shelters that have higher numbers of people who may be eligible for benefits and not in receipt of them, we can provide additional training for those shelters.
Diana Ayala
1:36:52
How will you be doing that and when will you be beginning that process of determining which shelters are doing it and not doing it?
1:36:59
Is that like via a survey or?
Jill Berry
1:37:02
No we are able to connect our information that we have on who is in receipt of cash and SNAP benefits, with the shelter information.
1:37:11
So we provide that information directly through the care system so they know who is in receipt of benefits and who is not in receipt of benefits.
Diana Ayala
1:37:19
Yeah.
1:37:19
The the question the the question I'm asking, I mean a lot of the questions that we ask you know are born you know from conversations that we have with our own constituents.
1:37:28
In this case I had a woman that entered shelter, they put her in a temporary site with a kitchen which is great because she has children.
1:37:38
However, she didn't have any money and she had no income so she couldn't purchase food and because she has a kitchen that means that that site is not supplying families with prepared meals, but she also had been there for two or three days already and nobody had spoken to her about or asked her if she had access to funding for food.
1:38:01
So I had to coach her to go look for whoever the case worker was on-site and make that request.
1:38:07
So I'm I'm just trying to figure out is there is there is it are they is there supposed to be a process by which when a person comes in and they're we're asking them a gazillion questions about their personal life and you know where they live and if they're married and you know who they're married to.
1:38:22
Is there a question that says like you know what what type of income do you have right now?
1:38:27
And when they say well I have no income, does a bell ring and say okay well this is you know you can you can go to HRA and tomorrow and access emergency food assistance and you know they'll help you fill out an application or we can help you fill out application.
1:38:43
What is that when does that is that supposed to happen or is that not like a policy?
Jill Berry
1:38:48
Absolutely.
1:38:50
It shelter providers should should absolutely be doing that.
1:38:54
And in addition they should be maintaining an emergency pantry on-site to provide food for that day that they arrive if somebody is hungry.
1:39:02
And they should have information about nearby community kitchens and food pantries that the families can also access.
1:39:11
That is what should happen.
Diana Ayala
1:39:12
So is are all sites, temporary sites, outfitted with a with a food pantry or is it just
Jill Berry
1:39:24
Not every shelter is going to have the space or adequate facilities to maintain an emergency food pantry, but that is the generally expected of family shelters in particular that have kitchens on-site that they do maintain some emergency pantry supplies.