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Page 29 of 202 § 10:90-6.9 Provisional Housing -- Awaiting Supplemental Security Income/Social Security/Disability Insurance (SSI/SSDI) Eligi bility (PHASE) Pilot Program

4. PHASE recipients shall comply with an EA service plan, which includes, among other things, the requirement that the recipient search for, apply for, and agree to accept permanent housing arrangements that will be accessible and affordable with the anticipated SSI/SSDI benefit amount and other available resources, including shared living arrangements and/or housing arrangements outside of the recipients' current county of residence. The EA service plan shall be reviewed and updated by the CSSA/MWA, as appropriate, but at least every three months. 5. When recipients' current monthly housing costs exceed the anticipated SSI or SSDI benefit amount, PHASE recipients shall continue to explore more affordable housing arrangements that they discover or that are suggested by the CSSA/MWA. The recipient shall accept such an affordable housing arrangement, unless there is good cause to reject. Among other things, a desire to remain in one's present community, aversion to living with a roommate, or aversion to living in another type of shared living arrangement shall not alone form the basis of good cause to reject an affordable housing arrangement. (c) In concurrence with, or in addition to, the factors set forth in N.J.A.C. 10:90-6.1, the following recipients, when otherwise eligible for EA, shall not be eligible for the PHASE program or will lose eligibility, unless they can demonstrate good cause for their actions or inactions, as appropriate: 1. Credible documentary evidence suggests that the unit failed to abide by SSI/SSDI application or appeals deadlines and other basic steps that the recipient was required to meet in the application or appeals process. Among other things, evidence that a case was closed due to missed appointments or evidence that a case is stagnant due to a failure by the recipient to provide documents, could be examples of the failures under this subsection. Upon request, a recipient shall obtain from the Social Security Administration (SSA) documents that confirm the nature of any delays in the application or the appeals process and provide those documents to the CSSA/MWA or DFD or sign a consent allowing the CSSA/MWA or DFD to obtain such documents from the SSA; 2. The Appeals Council of the SSA has refused to review the recipient's SSI/SSDI decision or has affirmed the denial of the application. The CSSA/MWA or DFD retains the discretion, where good cause exists, to terminate eligibility to the PHASE program when a recipient is making a subsequent application for SSI/SSDI, after an earlier application was withdrawn or denied, or terminate eligibility to the PHASE program, when a recipient is making a subsequent appeal at the same level, after the initial appeal was withdrawn or the initial decision was affirmed. Factors that the CSSA/MWA should consider prior to rendering a recipient ineligible under this subsection include, but are not limited to, the reasons for the denials or withdrawals, the number of denials or withdrawals, and the circumstances presented as the basis for a new application to the SSA. At no time shall a recipient be allowed to apply more than two times or appeal at the same level more than two times and remain eligible for PHASE;