120 Special Uses of SNAP Benefits

Certain households have been authorized to use their SNAP benefits to buy prepared meals or to make it less difficult to obtain food. These authorized special uses of SNAP benefits are: (A) Communal Dining. (1) Eligible Household Members. Eligible household members 60 years of age or older or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients and their spouses may use SNAP benefits to buy meals prepared especially for them at communal dining facilities authorized by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) for that purpose. (2) Communal Dining Facilities. A communal dining facility is a public or nonprofit private establishment, approved by FNS, that prepares and serves meals for elderly persons, or for SSI recipients and their spouses. These facilities include senior citizen centers, apartment buildings occupied primarily by elderly persons and SSI recipients and their spouses, and federally subsidized housing for the elderly at which meals are prepared for and served to the residents. (B) Meals on Wheels. (1) Eligible Household Members. Eligible household members 60 years of age or older or members who are housebound or otherwise disabled to the extent that they are unable to adequately prepare all their meals, and their spouses' meals, may use all or part of the SNAP benefits to buy meals from a nonprofit meal delivery service authorized by FNS. (2) Types of Services. Meal delivery service may be provided by a political subdivision, a private nonprofit organization, or a private establishment with which a State or local agency has contracted and which is authorized by FNS. (C) Food Purchases for Residents of Drug or Alcohol Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers. Members of eligible households who are narcotic addicts or alcoholics and who regularly participate in a drug or alcoholic treatment and rehabilitation program may use SNAP benefits to purchase food provided for them during the course of such programs by an organization or institution meeting the requirements of 106 CMR 365.610: Drug and Alcohol Treatment Centers, if one of the following is true: (1) the organization or institution is authorized by FNS to redeem SNAP benefits through wholesalers; (2) the organization or institution redeems SNAP benefits at retail food stores as the authorized representative of participating households; or (3) the organization or institution is authorized by FNS as a retailer. (D) Meal Purchases for Residents of Group Living Arrangements. Eligible residents of group living arrangement facilities who are blind or disabled as defined in 106 CMR 361.210: Elderly or Disabled Individuals and acting on their own behalf may use SNAP benefits to buy meals prepared and served at the facility especially for them, if: (1) the facility is authorized by FNS to transact SNAP benefits through wholesalers; (2) the facility transacts SNAP benefits at retail food stores as the authorized representative of participating households; or (3) the organization or institution is authorized by FNS as a retailer. NON-TEXT PAGE (E) Meal Purchases for Residents of Shelters for Battered Individuals and Their Children. Residents of shelters for battered individuals and their children, as defined in 106 CMR 365.550: Residents of Shelters for Battered Women and Their Children, may use their SNAP benefits to buy meals prepared by the shelter if: (1) the shelter is authorized by FNS to transact the SNAP benefits through wholesalers; (2) the shelter transacts SNAP benefits at retail food stores as the authorized representative of participating households; or (3) the organization or institution is authorized by FNS as a retailer. (F) Meals for Homeless Households. Eligible households not living in permanent dwellings or having no fixed mailing addresses may use all or part of the SNAP benefits for meals prepared and served by a public or private nonprofit establishment (e.g., homeless meal provider, soup kitchen, temporary shelter) approved by an appropriate state or local agency to feed homeless individuals and authorized by FNS as a retail food outlet.