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Title 7: SNAP Page 47 Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Employees’ Manual Chapter I: Specific Households and Participants Boarders and Commercial Boarding… Revised February 13, 2026 Boarders Boarders Legal reference: 7 CFR 273.1(b)(3) Boarders are people who live with others and pay a reasonable amount for their lodging and meals. If they are not paying a reasonable amount, they must be included in the household of the person providing the lodging and meals. Do not consider people to be boarders if they must be in the household by relationship. Boarders cannot get SNAP by themselves. However, at the household’s request, boarders may participate as members of the household providing the board. Decide if someone is a boarder by determining if the person is paying a reasonable amount for lodging and meals as follows: 1. Determine the amount paid only for meals, if meals and lodging can be broken out. If meals and lodging cannot be broken out separately, use the entire amount. 2. Compare the amount paid for meals to the maximum SNAP allotment for households the same size as the boarder household. (See 7-F, Calculating Benefit Level for these amounts.)  When a person is paying for more than two meals a day, use the entire maximum SNAP allotment for the corresponding household size.  When a person is paying for two or fewer meals a day, use two-thirds of the maximum SNAP allotment for the corresponding household size. If the amount paid for meals is greater than the appropriate allotment amount, the person is a boarder. If the amount paid for meals is less, the person is not a boarder and must be part of the household providing the services. Income Legal reference: 7 CFR 273.11(b) Boarder income includes all money paid to the household for room and meals. To calculate countable boarder income: 1. Determine how much total income the household received from the boarders, then 2. Subtract the part of the payment that is a cost of doing business. The cost of doing business is either:  The cost of the maximum SNAP allotment for the number of people in the boarders’ household, or  The actual documented cost of providing meals, if the actual cost is more than the applicable maximum SNAP allotment.