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SNAP CERTIFICATION MANUAL – SECTION 4000 3B4400 Excluded Resources 18B4460 Other Excluded Resources
(* If Federal TANF funds are used as a match, only purposes 1, 2 and 3 are allowable.) The value of the IDA is not a countable resource. Matching funds deposited into the account will not be counted as income. (See SNAP 5413.1.) Funds in Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Family Self-Sufficiency Program escrow accounts are excluded as resources when determining eligibility for SNAP. When a Family Self-sufficiency program participant has an increase in earnings, the public housing authority increases his or her rent, but deposits the increase in an interest-bearing account. When the participant successfully completes the program and can verify that no household member is receiving welfare assistance, he or she receives the funds in the account. Funds may be withdrawn from the escrow account before completing the program, with permission from the housing authority, but only for purposes related to the goal of the FSS contract, e.g. – completion of higher education, job training, or startup costs of a small business. Since the funds in the escrow accounts, as well as any funds withdrawn from them prior to completion of the program are not available to buy food, the funds are inaccessible - thus excluded as resources. The Good Faith Fund is operating a demonstration program called the Savings for Education, Entrepreneurship, and Down Payment (SEED) Program. The Program helps 3 and 4-year-old child and their families save and plan for college. A savings account is opened and initially deposited with $500, which will be matched by $500 deposited by the Good Faith Fund. Any deposits made by the household will be matched dollar for dollar by the Good Faith Fund. Withdrawal from a SEED account requires two signatures – the account holder and a designated employee of the Good Faith Fund. The Good Faith Fund will not permit withdrawal unless there is a documented emergency – e.g., so the child will not be without shelter or medical care. The SEED account will be excluded as a resource and any deposits made by the Good Faith Fund into the child’s savings account will be excluded as income per SNAP 5413.1. Prorated Income Monies that have been prorated and considered as income are excluded as a resource. For example, annualized or prorated self-employment income is excluded as a resource during the period it is being counted as household income. Refer to SNAP 5630 for the procedures for handling self-employment income.