
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 15, 1991                   TAG: 9104150065
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ADVOCATES SUE, SAY VA. DELAYS AID TO NEEDY

With the downturn in the economy, state agencies have been hard-pressed to deliver aid to the needy because of the increase in demand, according to the state commissioner of social services.

Social Services Commissioner Larry Jackson said Saturday his agency has a serious problem meeting federal deadlines. He said food stamp applications have surged after the economic downturn.

A group of advocates for low-income people filed suit Friday in U.S. District Court in Richmond seeking an injunction that would force the state Department of Social Services to provide food stamps within legal time limits and ease the application process.

John Wall, the managing attorney for the Manassas Office of Legal Services of Northern Virginia, told The Washington Post that thousands of people are forced to wait up to a month longer for food stamps than federal law requires. He charged that some are simply turned away.

Federal law stipulates that food stamps be available to a typical applicant within 30 days and within five days in hardship cases, such as those involving the homeless.

The federal government pays for food stamp coupons, but states and localities share much of the cost of administering programs.

Jackson said the number of food stamp applications filed by the end of March was 23,000 more than during the same period last year.

With the state facing a $2.2 billion revenue shortfall, social services programs have lost 15 percent of their state funding during the past year. In the latest budget passed by the General Assembly, more cuts are planned.

The plaintiffs named in the Virginia case are Jim Lee Casey and Carl Robertson Jr., homeless men who live in Richmond, and Joyce Robertson, of Lynchburg, whose husband and two children depend on public assistance to survive, according to the lawsuit.

Casey and Carl Robertson applied unsuccessfully for expedited assistance April 4. Joyce Robertson, who is unrelated to Carl, has been waiting for food stamps for 39 days, the lawsuit said.

State reports show that one-quarter of all food stamp applications from October to December were delayed, according to the lawsuit. That was an increase of 7 percent from the period of July to September.

"It's a fundamental safety net program that low-income people are forced to rely on," Wall said. "They're not getting their benefits, and they're finding in the social services agencies an inability to cope with their needs."

by CNB