REPRESENTATIVE MORELLE, SENATOR GILLIBRAND INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO STRENGTHEN SOCIAL SERVICES AND UPLIFT FAMILIES

(Rochester, N.Y.)—Today, Congressman Joe Morelle (NY-25) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) introduced legislation to help provide low-income individuals and families with additional opportunities to achieve a greater sense of economic and financial stability. The Health, Opportunity, and Personal Empowerment (HOPE) Act will help remove existing barriers—including misinformation and repetitive, time-consuming application processes—that prevent people from accessing a variety of government benefits and community resources.

“Families across the country rely on government programs to help put food on the table and meet their basic, daily needs,” said Congressman Joe Morelle. “Unfortunately, there are still significant barriers holding people back from accessing the benefits and services they deserve. I’m proud to introduce this bicameral legislation with my fellow New Yorker Senator Gillibrand to empower people and families with the tools they need to thrive and help ensure no one is ever left behind.”

“Families applying for federal support need help fast. They shouldn’t have to jump through endless hoops or deal with months-long wait times, dropped calls, or misinformation about their eligibility as they go through the application process,” said Senator Gillibrand. “It’s time to modernize and streamline assistance application processes, and I’m proud to be introducing this bill to finally do so. The HOPE Act will help make sure that families can access critical nutrition, housing, health care, and work support programs and help them get back on their feet faster. I look forward to getting it passed.”

Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, a nationwide nonprofit group said, “Our organization has long-championed proposals for the federal government to help states and localities make it easier for low-income people to apply for multiple benefits simultaneously online and to help struggling families develop assets to be able to enter the middle class. We are thrilled that Rep. Morelle is advancing these ideas in his innovative, common-sense, HOPE Act. If enacted, this bill would modernize and streamline government while helping families access lifesaving food and other assistance. It would also dramatically boost upward mobility by helping Americans buy a first home, start a small business, or save for retirement.  It is the ultimate win-win.”

In 2022, according to the Bureau of the Census, 37 million individuals—including more than 11 million children—lived below the federal poverty line. Many low-income individuals living in poverty—the majority of whom are working people, children, seniors, and individuals with disabilities—are unaware of the government benefits for which they are eligible. Furthermore, we regularly see that qualified individuals miss out on critical benefits as a result of misinformation, time consuming procedures, and repetitive and discouraging application process.

Specifically, the HOPE Act would provide meaningful change to how we approach, apply for, and distribute benefits to eligible Americans by:

• Authorizing three federal agencies—HUD, USDA, and HHS—to enable select state, county, city, and tribal governments to create pilot programs in economically distressed rural, urban, and suburban areas as well as state-wide;

• Leveraging client-facing technology to coordinate access to multiple government agencies that work on anti-poverty, health care, nutrition, housing, work support programs, and nonprofit aid for low-income Americans;

• Establishing voluntary accounts that empower low-income families to easily access and monitor—within one central online account—the status, summary, and recertification deadlines for all their benefits and savings;

• Creating a merit-based competition to award HOPE Technology Innovation Contracts that help ensure client-facing technology apps, widgets, and templates are created for pilot entities to use to create meaningful HOPE Accounts.

For more information on the HOPE Act, read the full text of the bill here.

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