Letter Delay Affects Food Stamps

With two sons and a third child on the way, 24-year-old Stephanie Williams of Troy was concerned on Wednesday when someone at the Rensselaer County DSS told her she was no longer in the system and would have to wait a couple weeks to get her food stamps. She says she was told to re-apply. It happened she says, because she never received a letter from the state telling her it is time to re-certify her eligibility. She ended up not having to wait that long.

According to a spokesperson for the stae's Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, no one knows how many people were affected by the letter problem nor what caused it. Williams said she was told she is one of four hundred.

DSS Commissioner Randy Hall says his office noticed during October that significantly fewer people were coming in for food stamp benefits. He says his office checked with the OTDA and was told the "cert letters" had been sent out as usual. He says approximately 300 people in Rensselaer county were affected. About 13,000 county residents receive food stamp benefits.

The OTDA instructed Hall's agency to extend the food stamp beneifits of the affected households for one month to avoid an interruption in benefits. According to Hall, his office had already been considering some people recertified as long as they asserted that they did not receive their letter from the state. He said postal authorities are investigating.