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COMBINED MANUAL

ISSUE DATE 11/2020

DETERMINING THE SNAP UNIT

0014.03.06

Also see 0014.06 (Who Must Be Excluded From Assistance Unit) for people who must be excluded from the unit because they are not eligible or due to disqualification due to non-cooperation with a program procedure.

MFIP: See 0014.03.03 (Determining the Cash Assistance Unit), 0022.24 (Uncle Harry Food Support Benefits), TEMP Manual TE02.08.143 (SNAP When MFIP Is Closed).

DWP, MSA, GA, GRH: No provisions.

SNAP: With the EXCEPTIONS noted below, the following rules determine SNAP units: ● A person living alone.

● A person living with others, but who customarily buys and prepares food separately.

● People who live together and who customarily buy and prepare food together.

Consider the following people to customarily buy and prepare food together, even if they do not do so. ● Spouses who live together must always be in the same unit.

● Children and stepchildren who live with their parent(s) and are under age 22 must be in the same SNAP unit as their parent(s), regardless of whether they also live with their spouse and/or children or purchase and prepare food separately.

● Children under the age of 18 who are under the parental control of a unit member must be in the unit with that member.

● Foster children and adults who live with their foster parent(s) may be excluded from the unit, but if they apply for SNAP they must be in the same unit as their foster parent(s).

● Children who receive Relative Custody Assistance grants and who live with their relative custodian(s) may be excluded from the unit, but if they apply for SNAP they must be in the same unit as their relative custodian(s).

NOTE: Any person, other than a person noted in the 5 bullets above, who is too disabled to buy and prepare his/her food separately from those with whom he/she lives, may be certified as a separate unit. Consider the person to be an individual living with others, but who customarily buys and prepares food separately.

EXCEPTIONS: ● Exclude all people listed in 0014.06 (Who Must Be Excluded From Assistance Unit).

● People who are 60 or older and permanently disabled and their spouses who live with them may be certified separately from others with whom they live, if they are unable to buy and prepare food separately from the others and if the gross income of the others is not greater than 165% of the federal poverty guidelines. See 0012.15 (Incapacity and Disability Determinations), 0019.09 (GIT for Separate Elderly Disabled Units).

● A boarder who pays reasonable compensation to a member of a unit for meals. Reasonable compensation is the amount of the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) for more than 2 meals a day, or 2/3 of the TFP for 2 or fewer meals. See 0022.12.01 (How to Calculate Benefit Level - SNAP/MSA/GRH). If possible, count only the amount the boarder pays for food. Do not certify a boarder as a separate unit. Do not consider as a boarder any parent, child, spouse, or any child under 18 who is under the parental control of a unit member.

● A roomer who compensates a household for lodging, but does not receive meals, may participate as a separate unit.