Demand for Welfare Programs Overwhelms Public Assistance Agencies

At Wall Street Journal, "Welfare Lines Overflow: "Crowded Public-Assistance Centers Interrupt Services as Demand for Aid Grows" (via Google):

Growing numbers of New Yorkers seeking food stamps have created an unwelcome spillover effect at some of New York City's job centers: overcrowding that in some cases has grown so severe, benefits were jeopardized.

The crush of people grew so large at one Brooklyn center in November that the Fire Department intervened and prevented anyone from entering the building.

That was an extreme example of the problem. But clients at many of the city's 29 job centers—which manage public-assistance benefits, including food stamps—regularly arrive long before the doors open to wait in line. Advocates said people miss mandatory appointments, leading to a bureaucratic battle to reopen their cases, or abandon the process after growing discouraged.

"It's outrageous," said Charles Leonard, a disabled 50-year-old who complained to 311 recently about a long wait and confusion at a center on Northern Boulevard in Queens. "It's like everybody is running around with their head cut off, and no one cares."

Officials at the city's Human Resources Administration, which runs the centers, acknowledged that serious overcrowding is a problem at five facilities. Advocates believe the problem is broader, affecting roughly 10 centers.

"At best it's benign neglect," said Steven Banks, attorney-in-chief at the Legal Aid Society, which provides legal services to low-income New Yorkers. "At worst, it's like the English poor laws, in which the aim was to make the seeking of assistance so miserable that people wouldn't seek it."

HRA spokeswoman Connie Ress blamed the overflow crowds on rising numbers of people seeking food stamps. The number of New Yorkers getting the benefit has increased by 200,000 in the past two years, jumping to 1.8 million from 1.6 million in late 2009. At the same time, the agency has consolidated some facilities, Ms. Ress said.

"We know that there are issues in a few of our centers throughout the city," Ms. Ress said. "We are actively addressing it."

Continue reading at the Google link.