Six months ago, Gov. Jim Douglas hailed a new computerized “central intake system” for Vermonters seeking government benefits as “the best possible way to reach Vermonters.”
The call center, complete with digital document processing, was meant to make it easier for Vermonters who are down on their luck to apply for “economic benefits” — food stamps, government housing assistance or medical care. In the new system, all they had to do was call a 1-800 number or go online to complete an application.
At an elaborate press conference, in which reporters were given a full tour of the newly renovated Benefit Service Center in the state offices complex in Waterbury, Douglas touted the new system as an example of “the kind of transformative change that can really make a difference. It’s imperative to demonstrate to the Legislature how effective this kind of change can be.” Though the new system was paid for through a federal grant, the center was held up as a model for the Challenges for Change government restructuring plan later enacted by lawmakers.
Read the “Douglas touts centralized intake system for state’s poorest residents,” plus VIDEO
That was in March. The system, which was supposed to be fully operational in June, still isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. The online application form wasn’t available until Oct. 4. Wait times for the 1-800 number average 5 minutes, but in some cases can take as long as 20 minutes, according to Steve Dale, commissioner of the Department of Children and Families.
The result? Since July a backlog of applications has begun to build.
Vermonters have had to make repeated calls to the center in order to file an application or find out whether their information has been processed. (The new “paperless” system doesn’t have a notification system letting applicants know where their virtual paperwork is in the process.)
Dale said in an interview that 40 percent of Vermonters who have applied had seen a delay in food stamps eligibility determination of more than 30 days. He said the total number of applicants affected by the glitches in the new system numbered in the “hundreds.”
Under federal government guidelines, the maximum wait time for application processing is set at 30 days.
On Friday, the Washington County Hunger Council and the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger sent out a press release stating that “thousands” of Vermonters have seen delays of two to four weeks for their applications to the 3SquaresVT program. They held a meeting with Dale in Montpelier to tell him that the new system is preventing families from gaining access to benefits they need – including food stamps.
“It’s been going on for months and it doesn’t seem to be getting better,” Smith-Dieng said. “As an advocate, I want it to be better — now.”
There were about 5,000 applicants for 3SquaresVT in September, according to Angela Smith-Dieng, a policy specialist for the Vermont Campaign.
At a rate of 40 percent, roughly 2,000 Vermont households had to wait more than a month to find out if they were eligible to receive food stamps in September, and about 15 percent, or between 500 and 750 Vermonters, based on the average number of applications in a given month — 4,000 – have had to wait as long as two months.
Smith-Dieng described the situation as a “crisis.” She said the Hunger Council has collected the stories of people who have been directly affected by the delays. A family of four applied for food stamps in April when the father lost his job and they didn’t get a phone interview with the center until June, according to Smith-Dieng. They received benefits at the end of July.
Another Vermont family waited two months for a phone interview, only to be told they needed to turn in more paperwork, Smith-Dieng said. A refugee who spoke English as a third language, she said, couldn’t get through the automated phone system because of his accent.
“It’s been going on for months and it doesn’t seem to be getting better,” Smith-Dieng said. “As an advocate, I want it to be better — now.”
The Economic Services Division has cut back on staffing at regional offices, and no longer provides direct services to Vermonters who need to apply for benefits. Instead, the state relies on community action councils, regional nonprofit groups, to help Vermonters negotiate the new system.
In a press release, the hunger groups said community agencies “have tried to help without any additional funding but are frustrated by a system that decreases the number of clients they can serve.”
Beth Stern, executive director of the Central Vermont Council on Aging, said in a statement: “When my case managers spend hours trying to get one client, 3SquaresVT, who has been closed out erroneously, it affects their abilities to work with other clients who may be experiencing health issues, abuse, family problems and caregiver issues. It feels like the state’s lack of planning and foresight has negatively affected both our staff and our clients.”
Dale said the department works closely with nonprofit agencies, and he was surprised that the hunger groups had sent out a press release criticizing the center publicly.
Eighty-five percent to 88 percent of applications are processed within 45 days.
He said 85 percent to 88 percent of applications are processed within 45 days. “There is a problem, but we need to keep it in perspective,” Dale said.
Dale said the total demand for 3SquaresVT has risen by 63 percent over the last three years. The dramatic increase in recipients (one in eight Vermonters uses food stamps) is due in part to the recession and in part to the department’s concerted efforts to provide benefits to a larger group of people.
In 2009, the state changed the eligibility rules so that more people at slightly higher income levels could receive benefits. Any household that is within 185 percent of the national poverty level qualifies for 3SquaresVT now; the cutoff used to be 130 percent, according to Renee Richardson, nutrition program chief for the Department of Children and Families.
Last month, Vermont won a bonus award of $375,889 from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for its expansion of 3SquaresVT in 2009.
At the time, Douglas said in a statement: “Once again, Vermont is recognized as a leader among states in protecting and serving the most vulnerable in our communities. This award recognizes our strong efforts to reach out to Vermonters in need to ensure they have access to critical benefits, especially in these challenging economic times.”
The number of Vermont households receiving benefits as a result of the new rules and the recession went up from 28,000 participating households to 43,000, Richardson said in September.
“We really brought more people through our doors, and we did this intentionally,” Richardson said.
Meanwhile, the department held its staffing levels “steady,” according to Dale, in spite of an onslaught of new beneficiaries. The center is part of “an overall effort to make government as efficient as it can be,” Dale said. Under the modernized system there will be less handling of paper, less driving to district offices and more time for “consumers” and for employees to process applications, he said.
More than 650 Vermonters applied for benefits using a new Web-based form that went up at the beginning of the month, Dale said. Though he doesn’t expect older Vermonters to feel comfortable with the online technology, he said younger people seem to like it. The department has received positive
feedback in a survey of applicants on the site, he said.
At this point, Dale said he doesn’t know when the biggest component of the new system – a digital call-routing program — will be ready for show time. The department is taking the situation “day by day” he said. “Very soon it will be done, and it will have us fully in this new environment where we can much better manage huge increases in workload,” Dale said.
The software sends applications to workers who have the most available time in any given office around the state so that the workload is evened out across the department’s workforce.
“That piece has been stalled,” Dale said. “It’s been technically challenging.”
Weeks go by and families don’t know whether they are going to get access to the food they need, Smith-Dieng said.
Dale said wait times of 20 minutes are unacceptable – he said no one should have to stay on the phone longer than 5 minutes. In the meantime, the department has added temporary workers to its staff and reassigned employees to handle the barrage of applications. He said at this point the number of delayed applications has not continued to rise, in spite of the problems.
Smith-Dieng said she understands the department has had problems, but she said: “Ultimately, we all suffer when these programs aren’t working well for people. It ripples through our families and communities. We (hunger advocates) feel it needs to be said loud and clear that it’s not acceptable, and we want to hold DCF accountable to (get the system to) work the way it’s intended to.”
Weeks go by and families don’t know whether they are going to get access to the food they need, she said. Vermonters come to the community action councils, she said, and they say they’ve applied for food stamps but haven’t heard anything.
“That sort of story is what we hear all the time,” Smith-Dieng said. “That’s not good customer service. The point of the hunger council meeting was to bring that message to the commissioner.”
