Let's Get It Right! Red Tape, Burdensome Documentation Requirements, and Understaffed IDHS Offices Jeopardize Food Stamp Recipients' Benefits

The Shriver Center is concerned about the increasingly difficult process of recertifying for Food Stamps. All Food Stamp recipients must undergo recertification at a minimum of once per year. For many, however, this process occurs more frequently because clients are required to demonstrate continued eligibility for Food Stamps. (See Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) Policy Manual, PM 19-03-06.)

IDHS customers report a range of problems tied to recertification—problems that have resulted in delayed Food Stamps or, worse still, their cancellation.

One homeless customer at the West Suburban local office contacted the Shriver Center after he discovered that his Food Stamps were not added to his Link card in November 2004, even though he had completed an application for Food Stamps in order to recertify his eligibility. The IDHS employee who gave him the Food Stamp application to complete did not tell him that he also needed to complete an in-person interview as part of the recertification process. Instead IDHS sent him a letter through the mail informing him of the date and time of his scheduled in-person interview. Since he is homeless, he uses the address of the West Suburban local office as his mailing address and stops by the office periodically to pick up any IDHS mail “delivered” to him.

In this instance the customer did not receive the IDHS letter scheduling his in-person interview in time to attend this appointment, and his benefits were subsequently cancelled. The Shriver Center intervened on his behalf and noted that his homelessness and the IDHS’ failure to inform him at the time he completed his application of the in-person interview requirement unjustifiably resulted in the termination of his Food Stamps. Michael Jacobs, the West Suburban local office administrator, saw to it that Food Stamps were retroactively reinstated onto the customer’s Link card when he learned of the reason for their termination.

Another Shriver Center client, who is a customer at the Englewood local office, has had a hard time receiving Food Stamps continuously for herself and her family. Since this customer works, she has to recertify her Food Stamp eligibility more frequently—a requirement that is burdensome for IDHS and the customer alike. (See IDHS Policy Manual, PM 19-03-02.) On several occasions the caseworker’s supervisor at the Englewood local office has asked this customer to bring in documentation of her income (pay stubs) and proof of her expenses (rent receipts and utility bills). She has always complied with these requests. Despite making copies of her documents, the Englewood local office has repeatedly lost her paperwork. Each time this happens, the Food Stamps are delayed and the customer is unable to buy food for her family.

The Shriver Center has intervened several times, and each time the Food Stamps have been reinstated. This does not, however, allay the initial hardship that our client and her family have to bear whenever the Food Stamps are not available in a timely manner. When asked why our client has had so many interruptions in her benefits, an Englewood local office administrator explained that there are simply not enough employees at this office to handle the office’s volume of cases properly. Papers are lost, delays are incurred, and customers like our client suffer the consequences. Staff shortage is not a problem just at the Englewood local office. Many of the IDHS offices are insufficiently staffed to assist their customers in a timely and responsible manner. This lack of employees must be addressed if the state aims to fulfill its commitment to aid those Illinois citizens who are in need of and eligible for IDHS assistance.

The Schaumburg Township’s General Assistance office referred a third client to the Shriver Center after the Northern local office mishandled her Food Stamp recertification. Because this client is disabled, she is allowed to complete her Food Stamp interviews over the telephone. (See IDHS Policy Manual, PM 19-03-06-b and 02-06-01-b.) She received a letter on December 2, 2004, from IDHS informing her that she needed to complete a Food Stamp recertification by January 16, 2005, or her benefits would be terminated. She called her caseworker to schedule an appointment but was unable to reach her. Our client reports that she then called her caseworker and other Northern local office staff, including the caseworker’s supervisor, an administrator, and an intake worker, every day after she received the letter from IDHS during December and January but was unable to reach her caseworker to discuss what was needed for the recertification or to complete the required interview.

Eventually, on January 24, the caseworker returned our client’s telephone call and told her what documentation she needed to submit in order to complete the recertification. The caseworker said that the paperwork had to be submitted by January 27 to avoid an interruption of benefits. Our client faxed all the documents to the Northern local office and kept copies of the fax receipts. Nonetheless, her Food Stamps were terminated because IDHS claimed that it had not received all the necessary paperwork. It took a phone call from the Shriver Center before the Northern local office located our client’s faxed signature page and finally processed her application.

The Shriver Center followed up with Sandra Wolf, director of welfare services at the Schaumburg Township General Assistance office, after the client’s Food Stamps were reinstated. Wolf reports that she has heard many complaints about the Northern local office, particularly that clients’ phone calls are not returned and that after clients have mailed documents to the office, IDHS employees report never having received them. According to Wolf, “clients are very frustrated” by these experiences.

The Shriver Center is concerned about these reports of difficulties with the Food Stamp recertification process. Food Stamps provide vital support to the poor and working poor in Illinois. For customers who rely on Food Stamps every month, a disruption in receiving these benefits is not just an inconvenience; it is a true hardship. In response to these and other complaints about onerous documentation problems and difficulties in delivering and receiving public benefits, the Shriver Center, together with Heartland Alliance for Human Rights and Human Needs, has drafted legislation, House Bill 2373, to simplify the application process. H.B. 2373 includes simplification provisions such as an annual Food Stamp recertification for clients with earned income and streamlined application, recertification, and documentation requirements. To read more about this bill and another effort to maximize the efficient delivery of human services in Illinois, see “Service delivery barriers restrict access to income supports” in this issue.

If you or someone you know has had difficulty recertifying Food Stamp eligibility, contact Shriver Center Attorney Aleeza Strubel at 312.263.3830 ext. 229.