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Subject: SNAP Special Living Arrangements

Policy 24.06

Date of Last Review: 11/30/2023 Effective Date: 07/01/2019 Date of Next Review: 11/30/2026 RDA: SW22 Page 12 of 15 3. EBT cards will be mailed to the county office, or the HH’s post office box, to ensure the recipient receives his/her benefits. 4. The shelter’s employees may not act as AR for the residents of the shelter. 5. The residents may use their benefits to purchase food to prepare meals for their own consumption, or to purchase prepared meals served by the shelter, if the shelter has been approved by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to accept benefits. I. Certification Periods 1. TDHS should assign each HH the longest certification period possible, consistent with its circumstances. 2. Households with unstable circumstances should be assigned certifications consistent with their circumstances but generally no less than three (3) months. 3. Households may be assigned one (1) or two (2) month certification periods when it appears likely that the HH will become ineligible for SNAP benefits in the near future. J. Homeless Meal Providers 1. It is the county office’s responsibility to establish that meal providers wanting FNS authorization to accept SNAP benefits are serving meals to the homeless. The meal provider or FNS will contact TDHS to substantiate that the provider serves meals to the homeless. 2. Each county may appoint one eligibility counselor to be responsible for determining that establishments serve meals to the homeless. 3. The eligibility counselor can verify that an establishment serves meals to the homeless through a site visit to the establishment. 4. Upon approval of the establishment, the eligibility counselor should complete HS-2120 Meal Provider for the Homeless, in duplicate. a. One (1) copy goes to the establishment for submittal to FNS as part of the application process for accepting benefits; and b. A second (2nd) copy is stored in a designated location in the county office. 5. No further action is required unless the provider stops providing meals to the homeless. If this occurs, the eligibility counselor should report to the local FNS official that the establishment is no longer serving meals to the homeless. K. Communal Dining Establishments 1. Eligible HH members, sixty (60) years of age or over, or Social Security Income, (SSI) recipients, and their spouses, may use benefits issued to them to purchase meals prepared especially for them at communal dining facilities authorized by FNS for that purpose. 2. Communal dining facilities include senior citizen centers, apartments buildings occupied primarily by elderly people or SSI HHs, public or private non-profit establishments (eating