Food Stamp Crisis in Texas is Worst in U.S.

In a Houston Chronicle report, the federal  director of food assistance says Texas ranks last among all the states in connecting low-income people who have applied, as well as those who are eligible, with food assistance they qualify for. With more families needing food assistance, often for the first time (as another  poignant Chron report this week notes.)

 

All the news that Texans' access to food assistance is so poor show comes with other sobering news recently. Texans' risk of hunger is the second highest in the nation, according to the Dallas Morning News. Children here are at the nation's highest risk for food insecurity, according to the national policy organization Feeding America.

 

During the recession, the state's eligibility system, responsible for processing applications for food and other programs, reports facing record demand. In some communities as many, as half of all food stamp applications take months longer than the law requires to be processed. The Health and Human Services Commission is working on the challenge.It has hired hundreds of workers and is trying to get them up to speed, and HHSC announced last week that the state auditor is reviewing its processes to find opportunities for efficiency. Still, what Texas needs, growing evidence is showing, is a strong plan for ensuring our eligibility system truly works for Texans. As a Dallas Morning News article notes, privatization failures have never been adequately addressed to ensure that happens.