The Legal Aid Society brought this class action lawsuit on behalf of low-income New Yorkers who rely on SNAP and Cash Assistance benefits to feed themselves and their families. The suit challenges New York City’s egregious delays in processing benefits applications and recertifications, in violation of the 30-day timeframes set out by federal and State law, and the City’s failure to maintain functional application systems. In August 2022, the New York City Human Resources Administration failed to timely process half of all SNAP applications and a third of Cash Assistance applications, forcing families to go hungry or to make impossible decisions such as whether to pay rent or to feed their children.

In July 2023, Legal Aid secured a court order requiring the City to become in full compliance with all federal and State processing requirements and to eliminate its backlog of delays by March 2024. Since then, HRA has virtually eliminated the backlog in processing applications and renewals. Settlement negotiations are ongoing to remove additional barriers to the prompt issuance of benefits to qualifying applicants.

In December 2025 after nearly a year of intensive negotiations, the Parties reached an agreement to resolve the case. As part of the Settlement agreement, HRA will be held to clear benchmarks for processing applications and recertifications and will eliminate backlogs that left folks waiting months for benefits. They also agreed to implement strict limits on call-in interview wait times, modernize online and mobile platforms to make it easier to submit documents, and provide updated training to workers to improve systems. HRA will be subject to reporting and monitoring obligations for the next 4 years.