Food Stamps in Upstate New York

October 1, 2001

The Food Stamp Program is the nation's primary tool to combat hunger, providing benefits that are useable only for the purchase of food.  The Food Stamp Program is a federal program under the administration of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  All states must operate the program in conformity with federal rules.  The state agency in New York responsible for implementing the program is the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA).  In New York, the day-to-day administration of the Food Stamp Program is the task of local social services districts.

While demand for emergency food assistance has continued to grow in New York State, fodd stamp participation has declined 39 percent, from 2.18 million to 1.33 million.  At the same time there was an increase in the use of emergency food resources.  Since food stamps are a cost-effective approach to reducing hunger, it makes little sense for food stamp participation to decline as hunger is on the rise.

An audit of the Human Resources Administration's management of the Food Stamp Program in New York City, conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), as well as the 1999 Reynolds v. Wing litigation, revealed serious problems in access to the program in New York City.  However, no information was available about the performance of the program in the remainder of the state.

To gain insight about the rest of the state, the authors, a coalition of four statewide agencies, decided to survey four different groups:  local food stamp offices, legal services program staff, food stamp outreach workes, and emergency food stamp providers, in order to discover why a program providing much needed nutritional assistance was not reaching nearly all those eligible for its benefits.