Advocates behind a class-action lawsuit related to Massachusetts’s struggling food assistance system say Gov. Maura Healey’s closeout supplemental budget, filed days later, does not go far enough to address the Department of Transitional Assistance’s staffing and access problems.
The proposal includes $26.6 million to retain 78 new DTA employees hired this year and hire 10 more, as well as about $15 million for technology improvements and additional staff support to improve payment accuracy and meet new federal requirements.
The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute filed the lawsuit Sept. 21 in Suffolk Superior Court, accusing DTA of unlawfully terminating or reducing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for residents who could not reach a caseworker through the agency’s assistance line. The 19-page complaint says the line automatically disconnected 74% to 81% of incoming calls on average during the first six months of 2026.
The complaint alleges the call failures have contributed to a decline of households receiving SNAP, with the caseload falling 18% since August 2024. The suit names DTA Commissioner Michael Cole as the defendant.
Vicky Negus, a senior economic justice advocate at MLRI, said the budget and lawsuit address the same underlying problem.
“They’re about the same base issue here, how do we make sure that everybody in Massachusetts who is eligible for this program, when they try to reach the state for help, they get the help that they are eligible for,” she said.
But she said the supplemental budget proposal does not provide enough funding to resolve the crisis.
“I think that the supp woefully underinvests and does not systemically solve the access crisis that we’re in,” she said.
The department blamed the federal government, saying: “No one in Massachusetts should go hungry. President Trump and Congress have made changes that are causing people across the country to lose SNAP benefits and making it harder for families to put food on the table. In Massachusetts, we’re doing everything we can to help people stay on SNAP.”
DTA spokesperson Cecille Avila continued, “In January, we hired 76 additional frontline caseworkers, and we have hired 42 more in recent months. Governor Healey recommended further funding to hire additional caseworkers. We will continue doing everything we can to make sure families, seniors, veterans and people with disabilities have access to the food assistance they need.”
Negus said the lawsuit will continue even after the individual plaintiff’s delayed SNAP benefits were restored this past week, because other households remain affected.
“The lawsuit continues to seek relief for thousands more families who’ve been harmed by this crisis,” she said. “And also, since this systemic crisis has not been resolved, this family is at risk of harm again in the future.”
“The only systemic solution to the access crisis that we are in is more staff,” Negus said. “Period. And significantly more staff than the 10 that were proposed by the governor.”
