Faster Food Stamps

Hilda Herrera pays for her groceries using a food stamp program at a supermarket in West New York, N.J., Monday, Jan. 12, 2015.

(Seth Wenig / Associated Press)

BOSTON -- As an overhaul of the state system that administers food stamps continues to trouble program participants and first-time applicants, the United States Department of Agriculture says it's trying to fix those issues.

Kurt Messner, acting regional administrator for the federal agency's Food and Nutrition Service, told MassLive.com Wednesday that the USDA is aware of the problems, but believes the new Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) system will, in the end, prove more efficient than what came before it.

"There are things that are moving in the right direction," he said. "We're breaking down barriers of access, but a lot of this is just bugs that need to be worked out."

The state rolled out its new SNAP case management system in Oct. 2014. Caseworkers are now matched with clients on a first-come, first-served basis, rather than being assigned to specific cases. And as of March 2014, documents began to be processed through an electronic, centralized management center in Taunton. The changes were touted as a way to match caseworkers with clients more quickly.

But since then, the state has reported a sharp decline in the number of those receiving food stamps through SNAP, and Western Mass. food pantries have seen a notable increase in the number of people who need assistance.

Many food stamp recipients, as well as their caseworkers at food banks, have reported spending hours on the phone trying reach the Department of Transitional Assistance, which runs SNAP, and have been unable to get through. They've also reported lost paperwork and a lack of access to local SNAP offices.

Messner said the FNS, which manages SNAP, is investigating why this shift has occurred. One issue is that the SNAP help-line can't handle the capacity of calls it is receiving on a day-to-day basis, he said.

The SNAP assistance line was set up to handle 6,000 to 7,000 calls a day, with 150 caseworkers available at any given time. But over the past few months, the agency is receiving, on average, 20,000 to 25,000 calls a day.

"Part of the frustration is, you call in, and you're told to call back at a later date," he said. "We're trying to address that with the state."

Messner said the state is working on an upgrade to the backlogged call system.

He also noted that whenever business practices of such a large-scale program are altered, bugs are bound to appear within the first few months. But through regular meetings with SNAP coalition partners and state officials, Messner said he's confident the reported issues will be resolved.

"We are trying to stay on top of this," he said.