NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A lawsuit against Mayor Eric Adams’ administration filed Friday accuses the city of illegally failing to process food benefits and cash aid programs in a timely manner, leaving New Yorkers destitute for months at a time.
Federal law requires the New York City Human Resources Administration process applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and the Safety Net Assistance program within 30 days.
The lawsuit, which was filed by four New Yorkers with outstanding applications, accuses the city of failing to meet that deadline for about 28,000 applications. Some of the applications dating back to September are still outstanding, according to legal documents reviewed by the New York Daily News. If the lawsuit’s allegations are true, that means more than half of all applications are late.
Lawyers are also accusing the HRA of ending benefits for some recipients without notice, leaving them suddenly without support. Others had calls screened by cellphone spam filters and never received important information, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs are seeking class action status, which would allow the judge to award damages to every applicant impacted by the delays.
Adams’ administration, Social Services Commissioner Gary Jenkins and Human Resources Administrator Lisa Fitzpatrick are named as defendants.
The HRA, along with almost all non-uniformed agencies, is suffering from a severe staffing shortage that started during the pandemic and has grown worse as Adams implements budget cuts.
In December, one in five budgeted positions were empty at the HRA, according to a City Limits report.
Adams manufactured vacancies as part of his Program to Eliminate the Gap — an attempt at cutting the city’s debt.
The PEG mandated city agencies leave positions vacant in order to achieve a 3% budget cut for every agency except the NYPD.
In November, the Adams administration announced a plan to reduce the city’s roughly 21,000 vacant positions. Part of this plan includes cutting half of the positions that are currently counted as vacant — reducing the vacancy rate by doing away with jobs.
Adams’ first budget proposal for the 2024 fiscal year, which he revealed earlier this month, proposed permanently eliminating 773 vacant positions from the HRA — a 7.6% reduction in staff.
The public assistance unit, the HRA team that manages welfare applications, already had a 14.5% vacancy rate as of October, according to a report from Comptroller Brad Lander.
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