After being sued for dereliction of duty, Los Angeles County has agreed to speed up processing of emergency requests for government food assistance to thousands of monthly applicants urgently in need of food or a meal.
Because the county Board of Supervisors approved a settlement agreement on Tuesday with Hunger Action Los Angeles, Los Angeles Community Action Network and a resident affected by prolonged delays, the county’s Department of Public Social Services must process applications within three days, a state deadline that the county missed at alarming rates in 2020 and 2021.
“We are heartened (that) the county, in entering this agreement, acknowledges that hunger simply cannot wait,” said Lena Silver, an attorney with Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County (NLSLA). “These are applications for emergency assistance, and the county must treat them with an appropriate level of urgency,” she wrote in a prepared statement.
CalFresh is a federal program — once known as food stamps — that provides monthly benefits to the needy to obtain basic nutrition. DPSS is the county arm responsible for processing applications for the benefits.
Anti-poverty organizations fighting hunger in Los Angeles sued the county in November 2021 for failing to process CalFresh applications for food in a timely manner. The county DPSS processed only 47% of the applications in August 2021 and only 36% were done within the legal state deadline in May 2020, Silver said.
The NLSLA, Western Center on Law and Poverty and Public Interest Law Project presented to the Superior Court data that showed the county had violated state and federal laws — for months. In September 2021, the lawsuit alleges that 29% of eligible households — about 4,900 — did not receive benefits because the county missed the state’s statutory three-day deadline to turn around the emergency applications.
Peter Jeovanny Torres-Gutierrez, a plaintiff, needed food after the teenager’s father, a day laborer, suffered a stroke, leaving him unable to work. The family was left with no income but they were, according to attorneys, eligible for expedited CalFresh benefits which arrived 45 days later.
“The County has taken extensive steps during the pandemic to provide food to struggling families, including partnerships that have enabled us to distribute 10 million pounds of food to more than 600,000 residents at more than 100 events, as well as provided 1 million meals to people experiencing homelessness and 110,000 cans of baby formula to families with infants, among other efforts,” read a statement from county spokesman Jesse Ruiz in November published in media coverage.
Silver said that since the filing the county’s processing rate has dramatically improved, reaching 89% in April. “I do think it is directly related to the lawsuit. They felt the pressure to follow the law. They are not quite there yet,” she said.
Hunger Action and the other anti-poverty nonprofits that sued are pleased with the settlement. The Board of Supervisors approved the document without comment, and it is expected to receive court approval shortly.
According to a report given to the Board from Dawyn Harrison, acting county counsel, the county must:
• Meet the state application processing deadline for nine consecutive months. And also, write up a plan of action for any month it fails to meet the deadline
• Provide monthly reports to petitioners
• Train staff about the details of the settlement
• Pay additional plaintiffs attorneys fees to be negotiated. To date, the county has paid $13,345 in attorneys’ fees.
For anyone who is not receiving prompt service from LA County’s DPSS, has experienced long wait times, or has been denied benefits, call the Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County hotline at: 1-800-433-6251.
Staff Writer Ryan Carter contributed to this report.