Thousands of Alaskans haven’t received food stamps in months, with no relief in sight

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Thousands of Alaskans haven’t received food stamps in months, and there's no relief in sight as the state Division of Public Assistance contends with an unprecedented backlog of applications and a staffing shortage.

Lutheran Social Services food pantry at 3303 West 33rd Avenue in Spenard on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022.

Meanwhile, numerous food stamp beneficiaries interviewed for this story said they’d been put on hold for four to five hours at a time when they tried to reach the state’s call center for SNAP. They expressed frustration with a lack of transparency about why their benefits were being delayed and when they might receive some relief, and described increasing stress around where their next meal will come from and what they’ll do next to make ends meet.

Up until then, she’d been receiving $934 a month in benefits for her family of five. It’s the only income she receives besides the $27 she gets in child support from her children’s father. Gillmere said she tried to go in person to the Division of Public Assistance office in Homer, but when she arrived, she found all the desks had been cleared out and none of the lights were on. The office had been permanently closed, she was told later on.

Recently, the agency created 45 new temporary positions to help with the influx, many of whom O’Brien said are being onboarded “in the next month.”“We’ve got a dedicated team of individuals we just brought on to address the oldest work and then the remaining workforce that is continuing to work through the existing paperwork,” she said. “That will really help to address the workload challenges that we’re facing.

More than half the calls the center received that day were abandoned: In most cases, the person waited so long that they hung up before being put through to anyone. “They seem to have a select group of staff that can review those within 10 days,” Dickey said. “That’s how people can get themselves out of the backlog,” she said.

Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)

 

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elonmusk MrBeast

But the big dividends! Another predictable outcome of flat funding and cuts.

Murkowski made sure Ukraine got it's funding though! Sickening!

GovDunleavy

LOL, keep voting for democrats. Those on welfare should not be allowed to vote

Every agency is taking weeks to months. I wrote DMV and they replied 7 months later. Heard that very long wait for death certificates so can’t get insurance to pay for funerals or support of family. Now this. Wonder why people are leaving? To risky to stay.

All states have had to deal with an influx of applications after the end of a pandemic-era federal program. But none seem to be experiencing such significant delays in processing as Alaska.

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