PEP, February 2010: Drowning in a sea of hunger

By JANE LaTOUR

Another long dense line of hungry people, waiting endlessly in the freezing cold for meager government help. It’s not a photo from the Great Depression. It’s not Europe after World War II. This is New York City today.

Americans are suffering from hunger in huge numbers, but the city has refused to provide adequate staff for the Food Stamp Program, which has become the “safety net of last resort” for the millions working in low-wage jobs, near or below the poverty level.

A record 49 million U.S. households could not afford consistent access to adequate nutrition in 2008, up 13 million from 2007. In New York City, a December report showed that some 340,000 households were “food insecure” — which means they didn’t know how or even when they would get their next meal. Over two-thirds of these families with children included a full-time worker.

In October, November and December, desperate New Yorkers made 400,000 more trips to soup kitchens and food pantries than a year ago, and more than half of the pantries ran short of food and turned people away.

Program struggles to cope

Use of Food Stamps, called “the safety net’s safety net,” has hit a record high. Today, one in eight Americans depends on them to eat — including one child in every four — and 6 million Americans have no other income at all.

Last year as soaring unemployment pushed up homelessness and hunger, President Obama’s stimulus plan offered additional money for Food Stamps. The Bloomberg administration turned down the extra hunger aid, claiming it would interfere with the city welfare “reforms.”

A visit to two Brooklyn centers on a cold January day underscored the vast demand — and the city’s cruel negligence. The federal Food Stamp Program is run by the city Human Resources Administration, which despite the rising need has closed centers and cut the number of employees handling the application process. The impossible workloads put incredible stress on the Eligibility Specialists who handle the claims.

At Food Stamp Center 21 in Bushwick, “They added zip codes while they lost staff. To meet the needs, we need more workers,” explained Clerical Division Rep Kathleen Newallo. Outside temperatures in the 20s forced applicants — including many elderly, toddlers and babies in strollers — to squeeze inside, testing their patience and that of the staff.

“On many days, the lines go around the building,” said ES Maryann Green. “Seven workers left in October and haven’t been replaced. The mail piles up and the phones ring as we do interviews. There’s no time to process the cases.”

“It’s hard to prioritize when the demand is endless,” said co-worker Jewel Hannah, now on the job for 25 years. “When I leave at 4:30, the waiting room is still full.” By 3 p.m., management starts asking people to work overtime, said ES Augustine Blackwell.

At Center 22 in Coney Island, every seat in the waiting room is taken. ES Yakov Tsibushnik puts his five languages to good use as he struggles to meet the needs of the multicultural population. Since FS Centers 24 and 28 merged in October, the demand is up and the staff is down, he said. “The clients wait about five hours. We need a lot more staff.”

“We can’t take a break. There’s not enough time for lunch. All day, there’s never a lull. We have a lot more stress,” said co-worker Sharon Pilgrim-Glude. “Last week, a disabled person in a wheelchair had to wait for over three hours!”

“HRA treats our members and the clients like cattle and is unresponsive to the desperate needs of the community,” said Clerical Division Director Ronnie Harris. “We are holding strategy sessions with Local 1549 leaders, staff and experts from the DC 37 Political Action, Research and Legal Departments to turn this outrageous situation around.”