The city is closing a Bronx public benefits office and relocating some services five miles away, even as processing times for food stamp and cash assistance applications continue to face unprecedented delays.

The Human Resources Administration center in Mount Eden operates an office to process benefits and applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps residents afford groceries. The office will shutter on Friday, while another department within the HRA office that processes cash assistance and other benefits will move its operations to another center in Hunts Point in the eastern Bronx, according to a listing on the administration's website and an email sent to providers.

Social service nonprofits that help residents apply for the benefits say the move is part of a pattern of closures and relocations that started in 2019 under the de Blasio administration and has continued under Mayor Eric Adams. The relocation will leave the Bronx, which has the state's highest rate of unemployment, with seven SNAP or other benefit locations, according to the city.

The changes also come as the city processes cash assistance and SNAP benefits at a record-low place, according to official data. Just 14% of cash assistance applications were reviewed within the required 30 days over a few months last year. And 41% of SNAP applications were processed within a month’s time as required, according to preliminary data from the Mayor’s Management Report. The city says it’s made progress on SNAP cases and nearly eliminated the backlog, according to HRA officials.

Providers argue the plan is unfair to low-income New Yorkers, especially those who have mobility issues, lack reliable internet access or have a problem with their case.

“Some folks are needing these [in-person] services because they don't have cash assistance to pay for a MetroCard,” said Adriana Mendoza, a benefits supervisor for the Safety Net Project, which is part of the nonprofit Urban Justice Center. “The fact that this is now being ‘relocated’ to basically almost the other side of the Bronx. It just creates more burden on folks.”

An HRA spokesperson didn’t respond to questions about how many people were serviced by the office, or the reason for the partial relocation.

Officials at the HRA, the city agency that oversees public benefits, said building-related issues at the location prompted the move and staff at the Jerome Avenue office will be relocated elsewhere.

HRA spokesperson Neha Sharma said more than 90% of SNAP recipients apply online as the city “has greatly strengthened remote access to critical benefits, including SNAP, as more and more New Yorkers prefer to apply online, while also retaining our brick-and-mortar locations.”

HRA said the Mount Eden office's clients were given ample warning about the closure. Residents said they received letters in the mail last month, and providers were also emailed about the upcoming closure in January. The email said HRA was posting signs around the building announcing the closure and encouraging clients to apply for benefits and manage their cases online or via app.

But providers say the app doesn’t always work and residents sometimes need someone to review their case in person.

“When you are trying to get your benefits turned on or to continue so [you] can afford basic necessities, like food or cash for toilet paper, and you're not getting through to anyone on the phone, then of course the alternative is to go in person,” Mendoza said.

Maria Wallas, 53, said she used the Mount Eden office when she needed help applying for SNAP. She also volunteers for the Safety Net Project.

“These centers benefit the people in the community so they can get the assistance that they need,” she said. “Who suffers [when they close]? I suffer. Everybody that lives around here suffers.”

The de Blasio administration closed two SNAP centers in Brooklyn and one in Harlem in 2019 to consolidate underutilized facilities as more people turned to online and phone services to manage their cases, news outlets reported at the time. A few locations were later reopened. Sharma said the city operates 28 SNAP or other benefits sites across the five boroughs.

But the city also faces a major increase in demand for public benefits.

HRA received 191,000 cash assistance applications between July and October last year, an over 70% increase from 2019, the year before the pandemic began, data provided by the city shows. And about 1 million New York City households now receive SNAP, compared to 885,000 in 2019.