Colorado is no longer under a federal corrective action plan for its food-assistance program after improving application processing times statewide.
The state is now processing 98.8% of SNAP applications on time, up from 71% in 2023, when the Colorado Department of Human Services was placed under federal oversight. At the time, Colorado ranked in the bottom five states, ahead of only Kansas, Florida, New York and Georgia, along with Guam, the Virgin Islands and Washington, D.C., according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s report for fiscal year 2023.
Federal rules state that households should be able to receive food assistance within 30 days for regular applications and within seven days for expedited applications.
After two years of county workers putting in overtime, an emphasis on real-time data so counties could see right away if they were falling behind, and an improved computer system, all of Colorado’s 64 counties are processing at least 95% of applications on time, state officials said Monday.
“It feels like a really big accomplishment, and what this means is that Coloradans are getting their food benefits on time and when they need it,” said Shelley Banker, director of the Colorado Office of Economic Security, which is part of the state human services department. “It’s really important for us to be holding ourselves accountable.”
Much of the work to improve timeliness rates focused on Denver, El Paso and Jefferson counties, which have the highest numbers of food-assistance recipients and had some of the biggest backlogs and wait times. In some counties, workers in charge of determining eligibility were offered overtime pay to work weekends and nights to clear the backlog. Other counties focused on streamlining their processes, said Abby McClelland, director of the Food and Energy Assistance Division at state human services.
Counties reported happier customers and fewer “arguments in lobbies” from people who had wondered why it was taking so long to receive benefits through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Colorado is one of about a dozen states with a county-run, state-supervised program, which has resulted in wide variations across the state’s 64 counties. Counties make decisions about how to fund and staff the program, while the state Department of Human Services offers guidance and technical assistance.
While some counties have consistently met federal requirements, others had lagged behind. When the state was placed under federal oversight, Arapahoe and Weld counties were processing more than 90% of new applications within required timeframes, but El Paso and Jefferson counties were processing only about 50% on time, according to data shared with The Colorado Sun at the time. Denver County was processing less than 50% of renewal applications on time.
The reasons for the delays included major increases in people applying for help after the COVID pandemic and not enough staff to handle the workload. In addition, the state computer system that manages government benefits, from Medicaid to burial assistance, was plagued with outages.
The state Departments of Human Services and Health Care Policy and Finance jointly hired a director to oversee the computer system that manages benefits, including food assistance. This led to a 53% reduction in downtime caused by outages, Banker said.
Gov. Jared Polis in 2024 asked the state to reach 95% timeliness by the end of 2024. The department met the goal and has met or exceeded for the past 11 months, making regular data reports to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Colorado has 317,000 households receiving SNAP benefits, or about 580,000 individuals. The numbers have declined in recent months, which McClelland said is likely due to distrust and confusion over the program. A federal judge in January temporarily blocked a Trump administration order that would have forced Colorado to recertify families on food stamps or risk losing food assistance benefits.
Despite the progress, McClelland said state officials are still “deeply mindful” that food insecurity is a problem statewide. Many families who don’t qualify for SNAP are relying on food banks.
A bill under consideration in the final days of the legislative session would consolidate the state’s public assistance programs, including food assistance and childcare assistance. The goal of House Bill 1429 is to reduce fraud and increase efficiency, which could create a long-term solution to processing benefits on time.