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Part IV

Chapter 1 - Group Composition

INTRODUCTION 1.1

There are several non-financial factors of eligibility (such as citizenship/alienage or disability) which must be met for someone to receive assistance. Non-financial eligibility factors are combined with financial eligibility requirements (see Part VI: Financial Eligibility) to determine eligibility. Before non-financial and financial eligibility factors can be applied, the SSR must first determine who is in the group.

This chapter discusses how to compose a group. The term 'group' and 'assistance unit' mean the same thing. A group consists of either one person or several people who live together whose needs, assets, and income are combined to determine eligibility and the amount of benefits, if eligible. All group members receive benefits if the group is found eligible. There may be people not in the group whose income and assets must be considered when determining financial eligibility and benefits (see Chapter 2: Whose Assets are Counted and Chapter 5: Whose Income is Counted in Part VI).

Each program has its own rules to determine who is in a group (e.g., MA does not 'pull' people into a group the way TANF, GC, and FS do; see Section 1.3: Mandatory Group Members in this Chapter).

No person may be included in more than one group, but a group member may be the payee for another group (see Section 1.6.2: Filing an Application/Accessing Benefits on Behalf of Another Individual or Group in Part III).

Some household members must be in the group (see Section 1.3: Mandatory Group Members in this Chapter) while other people may choose whether or not to be in the group (see Section 1.4: Optional Group Members in this Chapter). Certain people cannot be in the group (see Section 1.5: Excluded Persons in this Chapter).

Some people may be members of the group while they temporarily live apart from the rest of the group (see Section 1.14: Temporary Absence in this Chapter). Apart from a temporary absence, the SSR should establish separate groups for people who do not live together, regardless of relationship. In some circumstances, people living together may not have to be included in the same group.

Each program requires that all individuals in the group have certain characteristics or circumstances. The required characteristics or circumstances vary by program. All members of the group must meet each non- financial eligibility requirement. In some instances, one person's failure to meet a requirement will make the whole group ineligible. In other instances, one person's characteristic or circumstance will disqualify only him/herself.