Man facing delay in SNAP renewal

Man facing delay in SNAP renewal after car crashed into Lenoir City DHS office

LENOIR CITY, Tenn. (WATE) — A disabled man who depends on food stamps has found the state human resources office in Lenoir City closed. Two plywood boards cover the front door and a date of reopening the office is up in the air. If recipients need to see someone in person, they’re directed to the human resource offices in Blount or Roane Counties.

Jim Howard is a disabled former construction worker. He’s unable to work, so he depends on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. He said the letter from the Department of Human Services regarding his food stamps came in late October.

“It said that I would be getting a phone call sometime on November 15, at 10 o’clock. It would come from a case worker,” said Howard.

Howard then visited the Human Services office in Lenoir City where he filled out paperwork for his food stamps, but today his EBT card is empty.

He has degenerative joint disease and wears a brace on his right wrist to keep it from moving. He broke a vertebrae in his neck last year and wears a neck brace. In his left forearm, there’s an eight-inch metal plate from an injury. He’d like to work but can’t.

In late November he returned to the Human Services office.

“They said they never received my paperwork, that’s why I never got a phone call. So I filled out the paperwork again on the 28th of November. She had that date up there when I came in. So it would be a couple of weeks and I should be getting another phone call,” said Howard. “Two weeks went by, four weeks, six weeks. I never got a phone call.”

Now, the office is closed with plywood covering the front doors. A sign says: “Loudon County offices are closed. Our reopening date is uncertain.”

“So, I’ve been back probably five or six times since then. The plywood is still up on the front doors. The building was closed. but there are cars there. You will see there are cars there, way back there in the parking lot. Somebody is working inside,” said Howard.

WATE showed Howard information received from the state explaining why food stamp the recertification process is delayed. A letter from the Department of Human Services said the department has launched a new Eligibility Benefits Management System as a part of the department’s modernization.

With the adoption of any new technology, inevitably it involves a period of adjustment. On the phone, Howard got through to an agent who told him about the adjustment period.

“She said my case had evidently not been transferred over to the new system. I thought, ‘oh, how lucky me.’ She said, ‘you are not the only one. There have been hundreds.'”

Attorney Signe Anderson is the Director of Nutrition Advocacy with the Tennessee Justice Center in Nashville. It’s a legal group that fights for people’s rights, like Howard. She believes action needs to be taken to reopen the Lenoir City office.

“We’ll be talking with DHS about that and also USDA because ultimately USDA oversees all of the states,” said Anderson.

The Human Services Department told WATE “A car crashed into the building last month on December 11.” The Department added it “doesn’t have a date when the office will reopen, but its working on making needed repairs.”

Howard was told he would be getting a call soon about his recertification. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a computer to upload documents to the office. So, he filled out his paperwork by hand months ago. With the office closed, he can’t see anyone face to face, and after leaving messages, no one has yet gotten back to him.