A cumbersome application process, confusion over eligibility requirements and a persistent stigma deter hundreds of needy families from using food stamps, according to a new report of service providers.

The report has prompted state officials to rethink how the program is administered.

One of their solutions is to send case workers to grocery stores with laptops to help shoppers determine if they qualify for help.

The state commissioned the report, released this month, after watching the number of food stamp participants drop by about 16,000 over the past five years, to just more than 89,000 residents. Hawai'i is the only state in the nation with a drop in food stamp participants over the period.

Advocates point out this is an issue with wide economic impacts: The food stamp program brings about $145 million into the state annually and could bring millions more if all those who were eligible signed up. Food stamps are meant to lift people out of poverty, helping them to better afford rent and other daily needs.

State officials attribute the drop in food-stamp users to a strengthening economy, but also acknowledge the program is far from perfect. Social welfare advocates say the decline in food stamp users can't be explained away so easily. They point out the economy has hardly favored the poor.

Rochelle Sparko, a Legal Aid Society of Hawai'i staff attorney who wrote the report, said she heard a common theme among the 72 service providers surveyed for the study and the scores more included in community meetings statewide: The whole process is just not worth all the work for many low-income families — or the embarrassment when they go shopping.

"They talked about frustration with dealing with the local office, the barriers regarding the paperwork, the amount of back and forth," she said.

'PEOPLE ARE ASHAMED'

Once families are approved for the program, they have to stand in line with a card marked "EBT" in large, yellow letters. The EBT, or electronic benefit transfer, card is loaded with food stamps that can be used like cash.

"People are ashamed to have the EBT card, and ... (feel) definitely people are looking at what's in their grocery cart," Sparko said.

Kemberly Nihipali, a 29-year-old Kalihi resident, knows about that stigma.

She gets about $800 in food stamps a month for herself, boyfriend and two children. The family makes no income, though they do get rent subsidies. Nihipali suffers from lupus and a related heart condition, and her boyfriend has Type I diabetes and complications.

Though Nihipali, whose children are 5 and 7, says she could not get by without food stamps, she says she still feels humiliated when using them. "I am sometimes embarrassed, but I've got to feed my children," she said.

REQUIREMENTS

Food stamps can be used to buy only food products at participating stores. Households that participate must meet income and, in some cases, work requirements. A family of four, for example, is allowed to earn a gross monthly income of up to $2,492.

Lillian Koller, director of the state Department of Human Services, said the state is working to streamline the food stamp program. "We ... recognize that the application process is cumbersome and some people feel it is not worth the effort," she said.

The department awarded a $1 million, two-year grant to Legal Aid this month, which will go toward creating a food stamp eligibility computer program that can be loaded into a laptop and taken to food stores or community spots. Shoppers will be able to quickly determine not only if they qualify for food stamps, but how much they could potentially get each month.

The funds also will address other barriers to food stamps, from transportation concerns to the persistent stigma, though how those issues will be worked out is still being determined.

PROGRAM FINE-TUNING

Meanwhile, Koller said she is making smaller changes to the program.

Last year, she did away with a requirement for food stamp users to meet monthly with their case workers, instead making the meeting required every six months. And in August, that rule will be changed again. All participants will now be interviewed on the phone, not in person.

Still, service providers point out there are plenty of other pressing issues.

In the report, the long application — 11 pages if filled out on paper, 35 if filled out on the Web — was a big concern. Service providers said the application is not only long but confusing. It asks about income, employment, citizenship status and employment history. For those who can't read English well, they said, the application is almost impossible to fill out without help.

Some providers pointed out states have streamlined their application to two pages.

Darlene Hein, executive director of the Waikiki Care-a-Van, which helps homeless people islandwide, said her clients often get frustrated with the food stamp application process.

"It is confusing," she said. "Sometimes the information given out to people ... is not easy to follow."

Hawai'i's decline in food stamp use, a 15 percent drop from five years ago, comes as the other 49 states are seeing substantial increases in participation. Nationally, the number of people in the program increased by 41 percent over the past five years.

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.