9067 Destitute Households

[273.10(e)(3)] Migrant or seasonal farmworker households may have little or no income at the time of application and may be in need of immediate food assistance, even though they receive income at some other time during the month of application. The following procedures will be used to determine when migrant or seasonal farmworker households in these circumstances may be considered destitute, and therefore entitled to expedited service, and special income calculation procedures. Households other than migrant or seasonal farmworker households will not be classified as destitute. 1. Households whose only income for the month of application was received prior to the date of application, and was from a terminated source, will be considered destitute households and shall be provided expedited service. A. If income is received on a monthly or more frequent basis, it will be considered as coming from a terminated source if it will not be received again from the same source during the balance of the month of application or during the following month. B. If income is normally received less often than monthly, the non-receipt of income from the same source in the balance of the month of application or in the following month is inappropriate to determine whether or not the income is terminated. For example, if income is received on a quarterly basis (e.g., on January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1), and the household applies in mid- January, the income should not be considered as coming from a terminated source merely because no further payments will be received in the balance of January or in February. The test for whether or not this household's income is terminated is whether the income is anticipated to be received in April. Therefore, for households that normally received income less often than monthly, the income shall be considered as coming from a terminated source if it will not be received in the month in which the next payment would normally be received. 2. Households whose only income for the month of application is from a new source will be considered destitute and will be provided expedited service if income of more than $25 from the new source will not be received by the tenth calendar day after the date of application. A. Income which is normally received on a monthly or more frequent basis shall be considered to be from a new source if income of more than $25 has not been received from that source within 30 days prior to the date the application was filed. B. If income is normally received less often than monthly, it will be considered to be from a new source if income of more than $25 was not received within the last normal interval between payments. For example, if a household applies in early January and is expecting to get paid every three months, starting in late January, the income will be considered to be from a new source if no income of more than $25 was received from the source during October or since that time. Households may receive both income from a terminated source prior to the date of application, and income from a new source after the date of application, and still be considered destitute if they receive no other income in the month of application and income of more than $25 from the new source will not be received by the tenth day after the date of application. 3. Destitute households will have their eligibility and level of benefits calculated for the month of application by considering only income which is received between the first of the month and the date of application. Any income from a new source that is anticipated after the day of application will be disregarded. 4. Some employers provide travel advance to cover the travel costs of new employees who must journey to the location of their new employment. To the extent that these payments are excluded as reimbursements, receipt of travel advances will not affect the determination of when a household is destitute. However, if the travel advance is by written contract an advance of wages later earned by the employee, rather than a reimbursement, the wage advance will count as income. In addition, the receipt of a wage advance for travel costs of a new employee will not affect the determination of whether subsequent payments from the employer are from a new source of income, nor whether a household will be considered destitute. For example, if a household applies on May 10, has received a $40 advance for travel from its new employer on May 1 which by written contract is an advance on wages but will not receive any other wages from the employer until May 30, the household will be considered destitute. The May 30 payment will be disregarded, but the wage advance received prior to the date of application will be counted as income. 5. A household member who changes jobs but continues to work for the same employer will be considered as still receiving income from the same source. A migrant farmworker's source of income will be considered to be the grower for whom the migrant is working at a particular point in time, and not the crew chief. A migrant who travels with the same crew chief but moves from one grower to another will be considered to have moved from a terminated income source to a new source. 6. The above procedures will apply at initial application and at recertification, but only for the first month of each certification period. At recertification, income from a new source shall be disregarded in the first month of the new certification period if income of more than $25 will not be received from this new source by the 10th calendar day after the date of the household's normal issuance cycle.