San Mateo County Human Services - Daly City, California

andyandy Q.

Staff maintains an empathetic and consistently pleasant demeanor. And as other reviews point out, you will be seen quickly when appearing in person.

The telephone process is less efficient with very long hold times with annoying, 'never shuts up' repetitive, very repetative hold messaging. If I recall correctly, they include the "https://www" in the website address given in their hold messaging.

My experience was frustrating. Gratitude and humility given, at the end of the day, one primary function of the agency is to help those in need with food. If we as a society have made the decision to help those in need of help, and then do so by establishing a bureaucracy to handle the task, at some point it must be viewed outside of the gratitude and humility and become objective.

In that perspective, we can not provide this benefit and then fail to implement it properly. While something IS better than nothing, we are talking about food. Needed to survive.

When you provide, then take away based on a technicality, you have lost sight of why you are there to begin with.

Forgetting to submit a required periodic document needed for the benefit to continue, my benefit - or food stamps - did not appear on the date expected. After a long weakend of not having been able to shop for food, I went in first thing on Monnday to ask why my benefit did not post on Friday as expected. I was informed that I did not turn in the document required.

I was invited to then complete the document right then and there. After doing so, I handed it in to the same staff member who provided the paperwork to be completed to me minutes before. I was told that the document would be placed for processing in the order it was received among others who had also forgotten to turn their in.

One and one half weeks passed, and my food stamps remained discontinued . So apparently, there is quite a large number of people who forget to turn their document in.

I called to ask why my gravely needed food buying ability had not been restored. I was told that processing takes place in the order the document was received and given a food bank telephone number to help me to find food to eat.

When calling the number provided to me, I was welcomed and given a unique ID number and told to come to pick up some food to eat a week from Friday. That's a very long time to wait to be able to eat something.

A few days later. my food stamps had not yet been restored or issued, so I called SMCHS back to ask why my benefits remained dicintinued and not food stamps issued. I was told that the required document would be processed in the order received. That was what I was told when I submitted the document now two weeks prior. So, an incredibly huge number of beneficiaries must also forget to submit this required document other than just me if it takes inexcess of two weeks and counting.

Overall, it has now been 45 days since I was able to buy food. Obviously, we budget very, very tightly, and with thin margins to survive the first 30 days as benefits are issued monthly.

I am now in my second of four weeks outisde my budgeted prior months' food supply. Or, in other words, I ran out of food two weeks ago.

Gratitude and humility granted. But this is food, not a mani pedi. And mea culpa I (and 20, 8-hour days of processing late documents of discontinued beneficiaries) have been with food for weeks.

Tara A.

Very helpful place to use computers and printers.
Social services

Maria Y.

Workers are polite and the service is fast enough. Recommend to come in the early morning.

Kee H. (. D.

I've always had a helpful experience when needing to attend. The resource center is available for housing and job searching. I hear they have jobs hiring on-site sometimes. The attendant is helpful but I forgot her name.
The hours are the same as the office. Mon-Fri 8:30 to 12 then 1 to 4:30.

Stella P.

No one will pick up the phone when you call
EVER

scion456

Today is Tuesday January 2 2024 I usually don't have any problems calling and get in contact with a live person but since they are open at 8am today I have been trying to talk to a live person for half an hour and unsure if they are open or closed but on the voice recording prompts at the last options says "FOR ANY OTHER HELP" to enter this number but it will loop back to the beginning options and doesn't connect you to someone. I end up choosing any options to get a hold of someone and I did but while he was trying to connect me to someone I was on hold for 20 minutes and just gave up, I will try to call again in the afternoon.

The R.

Very helpful staff, and my interactions and experience with the workers at this Daly City Office can best be described as very considerate, respectful and understanding of my situation. For those of you with negative interactions, don't blame the messenger. These are good people.

jennifer M.

They don’t help at all. They said I can’t get benefits because my boyfriend goes over the limit of a family of 3 . His whole check goes to rent , phone bill, car things , water & gas , baby things. I don’t work also and don’t have support to get my baby watched they give it to people that don’t even need it or that be selling their food but here I am 21 actually struggling 😒😒😒no help!!!!