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Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program Division 10 Service 415 Program 415 Chapters 05 - 65 North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services

Emergency Assistance Eligibility Guidelines 415-50-10- 10 (Revised 10/1/2023 ML #3750) View Archives

The applicant's income must be within the limits specified by the Heating Assistance Program for the month of the Emergency Assistance application or have been approved for heating assistance for some portion of the current fiscal year heating season.

Income averaging, as discussed in 415-25-05-15, will not be used in determining eligibility for Emergency Assistance benefits.

The following are suggested guidelines for determining eligibility for Emergency Services and must be documented on SFN 62, "Application for Emergency Assistance," each time a new request for Emergency Assistance is received. Guidelines, rather than mandatory specific requirements, permit the Human Service Zone (HSZ) board to evaluate the unique circumstances of each household to decide whether emergency assistance is needed and is an appropriate resolution of the crisis.

1. Community Resources: Other community programs to alleviate the crisis, such as county General Assistance, credit, churches, and other community agencies** must be denied or known to be unavailable to the applicant or inadequate to resolve the crisis.

** Energy Share of North Dakota is not considered a resource for supplemental heating costs. 2. Assets: Immediately available liquid assets of the household may be considered as an available personal resource. 3. Income: