North Carolina state audit shows poor families faced hurdles in receiving COVID-19 relief

A North Carolina state audit showed that poor families received less COVID-19 relief due to hurdles faced in applying for aid.

Last year, the state passed the Extra Credit Grant Program to give families an over $300 stimulus check, but the poor families who needed the aid the most had the most trouble obtaining it, according to the audit. 

“These families did not receive the payments because of the additional steps the Department needed to take in order to award payments to low-income families in a short timeframe,” State Auditor Beth Wood’s office said in the audit.

The state gave more than 1.1 million payments automatically to families who filed taxes in 2019 and had one child who was 16 years old or younger, but low-income families who didn’t file taxes in 2019 didn’t receive the payment automatically and had to fill out an application for it.

The audit found the Revenue Department obstacles included creating the application, processing the application and outreach to let these families know of the program within the weeks before the deadline approached.

“The Department was unable to provide an estimate of the number of low-income families that did not apply for and receive Program payments, but the number could be significant,” according to the audit.

The department estimates that $25,000 payments were given to low-income families before 2021. The deadline to apply for the aid has been extended from its original end date in October to July.

The audit recommended using all the information the state has about a family in order to automatically qualify them for the payments instead of just using tax returns.

“For example, the State could use available information from public assistance programs such as Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to identify eligible low-income families and make automatic payments,” the audit stated. 

Revenue Secretary Ron Penny said the department agrees with the audit’s assessment and will pass on its recommendations to the state’s General Assembly.