'The Tennessee families that TJC works with are being harmed by the SNAP backlog. The DHS has been criticized by advocacy groups for failing vulnerable people. Does it help, yes, but when you give a basket that is over 50 percent desert that is not sustainable for our family to do.' 'The nutrition that is coming in the boxes is a lot of sugar and are not really sustainable for families. I started to have really long waits like two-and-a-half, three-hour times, and I only have so much time in a day to wait in line.'Īnother report from December by News Channel 9 also indicated some families have been forced to turn to local food banks.īut on that note, Freeman also said that provisions provided by food banks are not adequate for families. Catherine Freeman told the local news outlet that she 'went about the normal route, went to our local office and then when I didn't hear anything I started calling the 1-800 number. We could provide everything that they needed,' she said.Īnother woman from Bledsoe County told Local 3 News that she has been struggling to get additional SNAP after she unexpectedly had to take in extra family members. 'When we had the food stamp money, it was so much easier to feed the kids. Jamie Simmons said she spent two hours every day for three weeks trying to iron out issues with the DHS. One mother from Cleveland told Fox 17 Nashville that she has spent weeks trying to apply for SNAP to no avail. 'In this all-hands-on deck approach, we have made significant progress and we will continue to make improvements to ensure that our customers receive their benefits as timely as possible,' the spokesperson said.īut despite Clark's urgency to fix the backlog, the problem persists. The department confirmed they had reached out to 15,693 applicants as of February 2. In a statement issued to Newsweek, a spokesperson for the DHS said there are 'approximately 20,000 applications that were pending older than 30 days. Reports from over the past month have said 35,000 Tennessee residents are facing a delay.

Training staff while still processing applications has slowed the process of applying significantly, so much so that some Tennesseans are struggling to put food on the table. 'We have almost a desperate sense of urgency to be able to do this right.' 'This program puts food on Tennesseans' table,' Clarence Clark, leader of the DHS, told lawmakers in January. SNAP recipients should receive a decision on their benefits application within 30 days, but this has not been the case recently in Tennessee. A stock image of a woman grocery shopping.

By the middle of March, it is hoped that this will be reduced to the standard 30 days.Ī stock image of a woman grocery shopping. According to a January report by the Tennessee Lookout, the agency hopes to bring the wait time for processing SNAP applications down to under 60 days by mid-February. All SNAP recipients are required to take part in an interview to determine if they are eligible for the benefit and have a 30-day response time from application to decision as mandated by the federal government, which provides the funding.īut this has doubled to 60 days, according to DHS commissioner Clarence Clark. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly referred to as food stamps, helps claimants pay for groceries. But it hasn't been a smooth one, with residents saying they have now been waiting months to get their benefits approved. Newsweek previously reported that throughout the summer, workers at the state's Department of Human Services (DHS) transitioned to a new system for processing applications in 2023. The issues have arisen due to a new system being implemented in the state. SNAP claimants in Tennessee are facing continued delays to their applications, with some being forced to use food banks as they struggle to feed their families.

Tn food stamp application