Residents of Shelters for Battered Women and Children

Women or women with their children who are temporarily residing in a shelter for battered women and children (which serves over fifty percent (50%) of their meals) shall be considered exempt from the prohibition against residents of institutions. A. They shall be allowed to apply and be considered for eligibility as individual (parent/child) units, rather than considered as part of a household consisting of all shelter residents. B. In many instances battered women and their children who were previously certified in the household of an abuser may not have access to their allotment. Therefore, these individuals shall be allowed to participate in one (1) additional project area and/or household so long as one of the two households with which they are participating contains the individual who abused them. These persons may receive an additional allotment only once in a month. C. The local office should act promptly to reflect the changes in household composition and shall act on the change to reduce or terminate benefits to the applicant's former household as appropriate. D. Shelter residents who apply as separate households shall be certified solely on the basis of their income and resources and the expenses for which they are responsible. They shall be certified without regard to the income, resources, and/or expenses of their former household. Jointly held resources shall be considered inaccessible to the household if access to such resources is dependent upon the agreement of a joint owner who still resides in the former household.