This article from Civil Eats explores how expanding online purchasing options for SNAP recipients can improve food security, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article describing the “time tax,” the costs to people applying or benefits in terms of spending substantial amounts of time navigating user-unfriendly interfaces. The article describes the necessity of simplifying safety-net programs and cross-coordinating across various social service programs.
In early 2023, Wired magazine ran four pieces exploring the use of algorithms to identify fraud in public benefits and potential harms, deeply exploring cases from Europe.
This reporting explores how algorithms used to screen prospective tenants, including those waiting for public housing, can block renters from housing based on faulty information.
The $600 cash payments provided by the CARES act prevented joblessness from turning into actual income loss for millions of families. It also gave Americans breathing room to wait for better jobs, rather than settling for bad ones out of desperation.
As they transition to providing more services online, there are ways governments can get creative working around talent shortages and entrenched bureaucracies.
It is necessary give the public servants who manage safety-net systems the technology tools and incentives to track critical outcomes and meet people where they are.
