Biggest States Failing Poor on Food Stamps

SF Chronicle News Service 28apr01

The food stamp program ran into serious difficulties last year in the nation's largest states, including California, where less than half of those eligible for benefits received them.

The federal government released figures yesterday showing that several major states are growing worse at getting the correct amount of food stamps to those who applied for them.

Analysts said those errors reflected the complexity of serving large populations of working poor and immigrants - notably in New York and California - as they contend with strict federal guidelines and trying to serve beneficiaries whose incomes and eligibility may change frequently.

The new federal statistics come against a backdrop of reports showing that millions who qualify for food stamps do not get them. California Food Policy Advocates, a nonprofit group that seeks to combat hunger, found that only 45 percent of eligible Californians were receiving food stamps.