01/22/2019

New Computer System Causing Confusion, Delays for Ohio Food-stamp Recipients

A digital detour is sidelining those most in need

The homeless man had made it through the application process, barely, but now he was stuck. His food-assistance money seemed to have taken a digital detour and he didn’t know what to do.

“They loaded his benefits onto his old card,” said Solomon Dean, a deputy director at the Open Shelter in Downtown Columbus.

To sort things out, the man needed to provide a previous address — the one he used four years ago, when he last applied for aid through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program known as SNAP. “He’s been homeless,” Dean explained, using his own cellphone for the benefits-center call that stretched past the half-hour mark. “He doesn’t know his last address.”

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Columbus Dispatch.