The Capital Area Food Bank recently reported that one in three people living in DC struggle to access food. Two-thirds of all non-white households with children don’t know the source of their next meal. 90,000 seniors are considered food insecure. Yet far too often, negligence and errors at the DC agencies tasked with providing a safety net cause DC residents to lose their food stamps, unemployment insurance, cash assistance, and other programs.

When Tamara Weatherly was suddenly unable to access her food benefits in early 2023, she thought she would easily be able to resolve it on her own. A year later, worn out by countless unhelpful phone calls, ignored emails, and contradictory information from the Department of Human Services (DHS), Ms. Weatherly was $5,000 in debt on groceries and didn’t know what to do. Tangled in the red tape, she called Legal Aid DC for help and was assigned an attorney from our Public Benefits unit, Haley Hoff.  

Haley was used to this circus. She turned up the heat on the agency and filed a hearing request. With Haley’s help, Ms. Weatherly was finally awarded her back benefits and able to pay down the debt she accumulated trying to cover the missing benefits for the past year.

But the story goes deeper than administrative mismanagement. About a year ago, Mayor Bowser declared that her administration was planning to ignore a law that required excess city revenue to be put towards additional SNAP benefits. Having signaled that the Administration was going to illegally withhold up to almost $40 million in critical benefits, Legal Aid DC went to work and partnered with Zuckerman Spaeder to prepare to file a lawsuit against the city and demand they follow the law.  

After being notified about the impending lawsuit, the Administration reversed course and announced that they would begin providing the additional food assistance to the approximately 144,000 residents who rely on the program.  

After the announcement from the mayor, Legal Aid DC was able to confirm with our clients that they received the full amount to which they were entitled. For a year, DC families received, on average, $270 more in food assistance.