: Stamp Of Disapproval: Mayor, Council At Odds Over Law That May Increase Access To Food Stamps

A political turf battle could be brewing over legislation that aims to improve access to Food Stamps among city residents, pitting the Mayor against the City Council over an issue in which both sides appear to be genuinely concerned for needy New Yorkers but seem to be tangled in red tape.

A 90-day implementation period recently lapsed on a package of three bills that instructed that the City’s Human Resources Administration to implement several measures meant to increase the distribution of Food Stamps applications. The mayor fought the legislation, vetoing the bills in July, but he lost an override vote the following month.

Now the sponsors of the legislation are accusing the administration of dragging its feet in implementing the bills into law. The administration says it has not yet moved to follow the new distribution methods, but it defends its stance, saying that the Council legislation is both redundant and illegal.

But some city officials fear the political infighting will only put up roadblocks for hungry people trying to take advantage of the Food Stamp Program, leaving stomachs grumbling near the holidays.

Food Fight
In June, the City Council passed three bills outlining simple steps to make the Food Stamp application process more accessible, including distributing paper applications at food pantries and creating an online application process.

When Mayor Michael Bloomberg vetoed that legislation, he argued the Council overstepped its authority by dictating policy that is regulated by the state and federal authorities, which set guidelines for the Food Stamp program. By ordering the HRA commissioner to perform certain actions, moreover, the bills also infringed on the mayor’s executive authority, Bloomberg said.

“The limitation of the Commissioner’s power is in effect a limitation of the Mayor’s appointee power, which may not be done by local law without referendum,” Bloomberg wrote in a letter to the City Clerk.

After his veto is overridden, the Mayor has the recourse of challenging the legislation in court to stop its implementation, officials said. Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the mayor, said city officials are still weighing their legal options and have not made a decision on whether to file suit.

In the meantime, the administration has not made any plans to put the legislation into effect, even though it became active law on Nov. 17, 90 days after Council members voted to override the mayoral veto.

“We are not moving forward with implementing the legislation at this time,” Barowitz said.

What’s The Hold-Up?
Several portions of the Food Stamp legislation outline practices that the HRA already uses, making them unnecessary, Barowitz said. One bill asks for face-to-face interviews to be waived in certain cases, such as when individuals are homebound, a policy that administration officials say already exists.

The city also has been working on a multi-purpose online application that will allow residents to register for several government initiatives at once, including welfare and Medicare in addition to Food Stamps. These electronic applications could be ready as early as the spring, according to Barowitz.

But some items proposed in the legislation are not on the administration’s agenda. Most pressingly, one bill calls for the HRA to distribute hard copies of Food Stamp applications to all soup kitchens and food pantries in the city. The HRA commissioner must also submit a report to the City Council every quarter, staring Jan. 1, 2006, detailing the amount of applications that were distributed and where.

To date, no effort has been made to distribute large quantities of Food Stamp applications to food providers, according to city officials. Currently, the application can be printed from a link on the city’s Web site and picked up at 36 Food Stamp offices located around the city.

A new program, started with a recent federal grant, sponsors volunteers from a local non-profit group who visit selected soup kitchens and sign people up for Food Stamps electronically.

Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside), who introduced two of the three bills in question, said he believes that administrators need to do more to fight hunger within the city, and in particular, to follow the mandates that the council legislation sets out.

“These are some very practical steps, but either through obstinacy, or I don’t know what, these suggestions, more than that, these laws, are not being followed,” Gioia said. “My intention is to fight as hard as I can with every tool that I can until this issue is solved.”

Barowitz said the onus sometimes falls on the City Council to sue for the implementation of its own laws – such as when they conflict with established state laws – but he was unsure whether that would have to happen in this instance.

By The Numbers
The current administration has countered critics of its policy with statistical data showing impressive growth in the city’s Food Stamp program. Since Bloomberg took office in 2002, the number of city residents receiving food stamps increased by 280,018, making the total number of participants well over a million.

HRA officials credit the improvement on making adjustments to the application process, like using a more integrated queuing system to receive applicants more efficiently. The state also substantially reduced the necessary paperwork, shortening the Food Stamp application from 14 pages to four.

The Food Stamp program gives credits that can be redeemed for food to individuals or families who meet certain low-income requirements. It was started in the 1960s as an effort to feed poor families and support government subsidized farmers who provide the food.

“We believe we have made substantial progress in the Food Stamp program, and the steps we have taken and hope to take soon will allow us to further improve access for all New Yorkers who would like to apply for Food Stamps,” said Seth Diamond, an executive deputy commissioner at the HRA.

Despite the progress, hunger advocates insist the city can do more. With only 55 percent of eligible residents participating in the program, New York City still lags behind the national average of 61.5 percent, according to a study by the Coalition Against Hunger, an umbrella group for soup kitchens and food pantries. West Virginia, which has instituted an online application system, involves 80.5 percent of eligible residents in the program.

Participation in the city has declined by 1.52 percent since the beginning of the year and 26 percent since its peak levels in the mid 1990s, the CAH study said. Some believe that more people are relying on local sources of charity, instead of federal programs, which has in turn stretched the limits of small food pantries.

“I see an increase; I know the numbers are growing,” said Loretta Schofield, food program coordinator at Center of Hope International Bread of Life, a church and food pantry in Queens. “My listing of clients who are currently visiting is above 600 – that’s a vast amount of people in my opinion…There needs to be more resources.”

By making these local hunger relief shelters a distribution point for Food Stamp applications, as the City Council legislation proposes, some politicians hope to encourage more participation and therefore shift the monetary burden to the federal budget. If every eligible New Yorker participated in the program, the city would be entitled to more than $500 million in funding, according to CAH estimates.

That money could be dwindling, however. Congress recently passed a bill to cut the Food Stamp program by $700 million.

“From the halls of City Hall to the halls of Congress, attempts have been made to cut programs for homelessness and hunger while giving tax cuts to the very wealthy,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Jackson Heights). “This is wrong.”