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Page | 114 7411 THE FACILITY AS AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE

A. Residents, and their children, of drug/alcohol treatment centers apply for, purchase, and use SNAP benefits with the facility acting as their authorized representative.

Facility residents who are not regularly participating in a drug/alcohol treatment/rehabilitation program are not eligible under this provision to participate in SNAP.

B. Residents in shelters for battered women and children may apply for SNAP, receive EBT cards, and use the allotment on their own behalf. The facility does not have to be the Authorized Representative, unlike drug/alcohol treatment centers. Households may appoint a shelter representative or any other person to act as AR the same as any other household.

Individual households may use their allotments to buy meals prepared for them at a shelter approved by USDA to use SNAP benefits as a wholesale food business. Specialists must ask a shelter representative if the shelter is approved by USDA.

C. Homeless SNAP households will be permitted to use their SNAP benefits to purchase prepared meals from homeless meal providers. Homeless meal providers may not act as authorized representatives for homeless SNAP recipients.

7412 APPROVED CENTERS

A. Drug or alcohol treatment and rehabilitation centers must be approved (licensed/certified) by the appropriate agency of the State. Approval by USDA is not required. However, if the Benefits Specialist verifies that USDA has certified the facility as a retailer, then eligibility is confirmed.

The specialist must also ask facility for verification that the facility is a nonprofit organization. If the facility is nonprofit, a current, valid Internal Revenue Service exemption must be provided for verification. Normally, the licensing agency determines the nonprofit status of the facility, and this determination can be used as verification.

B. Shelters for battered women and children must be public or private non-profit residential facilities that serve battered women and children. If a facility serves other persons, part of the facility must be set aside on a long-term basis to serve only battered women and children.

Before certifying any household in this type of shelter, the Benefits Specialist must decide if the shelter meets the definition of an approved shelter and document the basis of this decision. If the Specialist determines that USDA has certified the shelter as a retailer, eligibility is confirmed.

The specialist must document the shelter's status as a non-profit organization. The shelter should have a current certificate from the Internal Revenue Service.

C. Shelters or establishments for the homeless that are meal providers must be approved (licensed/certified) by an appropriate State or local agency or must be authorized by FNS as a retail food store.

Such meal providers must be public or private non-profit organizations as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (I.R.C. 501(c)(3)) and must serve meals that include food purchased by the provider. Homeless meal providers serving meals, which consist wholly of donated food, will not be eligible for authorization to accept SNAP benefits as payment for meals.