Public Benefits
Securing vital public benefits so that people can survive.
For many, including families with children, veterans, seniors, and people with disabilities, public benefits mean access to food, housing, and health care. However, the complex government systems that control benefits are nearly impossible to navigate without an advocate who specializes in public benefits. That’s where we come in.
$5.6M
secured last year in ongoing yearly public benefits for our clients
Services
We are committed to getting individuals, children, and families the benefits to which they are entitled. NYLAG’s expert services include:
- Accessing and maintaining benefits, including Medicaid, Medicare, Public Assistance, and SNAP
- Challenging wrongful denial, reduction, or termination of benefits
- Preparing medical and financial advance planning documents
- Advocating for homecare for the elderly and those with disabilities to allow them to live safely in their own homes
- Navigating access to shelters for people without homes
- Ensuring that individuals with disabilities receive benefits to gain access to housing, lost income, food, and health care
- Helping veterans secure benefits connected to their service
- Working with immigrants to ensure access to health care, food, and housing
- Helping to build food security through obtaining nutritional assistance (formerly food stamps)
Need free legal services or financial counseling?
Help us provide free legal services to veterans, and others with low incomes, in need of public benefits to survive.
The Latest on Public Benefits
City Limits: New Yorkers See Uneven Improvement in Food Stamp, Cash Assistance Delays
NYLAG’s Deborah Berkman spoke to City Limits for this piece about how tens of thousands of New Yorkers have faced delays to their benefits applications, despite some strides made by the Human Resources Administration after NYLAG’s class action lawsuit in January 2023.
Testimony: City’s Shelter Policies for Recent Immigrants are Discriminatory
NYLAG’s Deborah Berkman testified before the New York City Council Committees on General Welfare and Immigration about the harms of a recently implemented 60-day limit on shelter stays for adult migrants.
Pix11: NYC Must Speed Up Food Stamp Application Processing Amid Backlog, Judge Rules
This Pix11 story covers a court order secured by NYLAG, Legal Aid Society, and Dechert LLP requiring the City to eliminate all SNAP and Cash Assistance delays that have long contributed to food insecurity for low-income New Yorkers.
