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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Deborah Berkman, Director of the Shelter and Economic Stability Project at New York Legal Assistance Group
2:51:47
ยท
4 min
Deborah Berkman, representing the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), provided testimony on food insecurity and public benefits access in New York City. She expressed support for Intro 1148, which would require receipts for benefit applications, and raised concerns about Intro 1028 regarding automatic enrollment in city-created benefit programs.
- Berkman highlighted issues with DSS's handling of SNAP applications and recertifications, leading to benefit denials or discontinuations.
- She suggested ways to help people near the SNAP eligibility threshold, such as better SNAP budgeting and screening for deductions.
- Berkman emphasized the importance of consistent access to food benefits, especially for elderly and disabled individuals.
Deborah Berkman
2:51:47
Good afternoon.
2:51:49
Shall I start?
2:51:51
Okay.
2:51:52
Deputy Speaker Ayala, staff, thank you so much for the opportunity to speak today.
2:51:58
My name is Deborah Berkman and I'm the director of the Shelter and Economic Stability Project at New York Legal Assistance Group or NILAG.
2:52:05
My specific project at NILAG helps people access and maintain public benefits and I'm intimately familiar with the subjects of today's hearing.
2:52:13
First I would like to speak out in support of intro number eleven forty eight.
2:52:17
We very much support DSS requiring DSS to provide a receipt for all applications for benefits or services and particularly a detailed receipt for the documents submitted.
2:52:27
So many times NILID clients visit DSS offices and attempt to apply or recertify or otherwise change their public benefits and they come away empty handed.
2:52:37
Clients are later told that documents are needed when they were already submitted or that clients applications are denied for failure to submit documents when in fact they did include those documents with their application or submitted them within the time frame required.
2:52:50
Given the current disorganization of DSS and how many applications or recertifications are simply not acted upon, it's imperative that receipts are given so that clients may follow-up on their applications.
2:53:02
Second, NILAC has some concerns about intro number ten twenty eight.
2:53:06
While we applaud the intent of automatic enrollment of eligible people and city created benefit programs, we are concerned about the collateral consequences of involuntary enrollment.
2:53:16
While the bill does contemplate an opt out provision, it's very likely that many people will never know that they've been enrolled in public benefits or how to opt out.
2:53:25
And in the current political climate, people have very valid reasons why they may not want to access certain public benefits eligible for.
2:53:33
Moreover the bill is silent on people who don't meet their requirements for the benefits that they're accidentally enrolled in and what type of repayment for benefits wrongly issued would be mandated.
2:53:43
That's why NILAC thinks that all benefits should require an opt in not an opt out but in keeping with the spirit of the bill, NILIC does support an automatic screening with a simplified opt in mechanism so people are able to more easily access those benefit programs.
2:53:59
Just very quickly, far too many of our neighbors are going hungry and I think that a huge part of it is that people are not able to access their food related public benefits, specifically SNAP.
2:54:12
My team assists numerous clients every day who are hungry and reliant on SNAP but because of DSS's failure to process their applications properly or their recertifications, they have their SNAP benefits denied or discontinued and while of course we're able to get their benefits restored retroactively, as we all know people need to eat on a consistent basis and they can't eat retroactively.
2:54:32
And most of these clients that we have are elderly or they live with disability and when their SNAP is discontinued they just don't know where to turn.
2:54:40
I wanted to answer a question that the deputy speaker had earlier today also about how to maximize how to help someone who's about five dollars below the SNAP eligibility requirement access SNAP.
2:54:53
So there are a lot of while the federal rules can change and the city doesn't have any access to change those rules, what they can do is help people engage in SNAP budgeting that would make them eligible for more benefits.
2:55:08
And so for elderly and disabled people that's computing their medical costs and that would change how much SNAP that they would be eligible for and for everyone there's something called SUA and if people pay for heat and electricity and or electricity, they get a bigger sort of income deduction which raises the amount of the benefit that they would get.
2:55:30
And that's really important and it's something that HRA can do.
2:55:34
They can screen for these issues instead of just relying on clients to know about these things.
2:55:39
Even most professionals who work in this field don't know about these things.
2:55:42
So there is there are steps that HRI can take within the federal guidelines.
2:55:47
Thank you very much for the important work you're doing.