Policy Effective: August 1, 2012

Emergency Assistance - Homeless Prevention Program (EA) provides immediate short term help for destitute families to remedy or prevent homelessness.

Services provided include:

Rent, deposits, mortgage, utility payments

Referral to legal services to avoid eviction

Counseling in basic planning and family budgeting

Advocacy referral needed to resolve problems with landlords and mortgage companies

Payments provided will not exceed:

$450 per family for one month’s rent

$700 per family for one month’s mortgage payment

$300 per family for utility programs

The family must meet ALL eight of the following program eligibility requirements to be eligible:

The family must be homeless, facing eviction, foreclosure, utility shutoff, or in need of utilities, because of past due payments that resulted from a crisis beyond the control of the family.

A written statement from the landlord that the household is in danger of eviction, or that eviction procedures are expected to begin, can be accepted as evidence the household is facing eviction. The statement must be signed and dated by the landlord and must contain enough information to determine if an issuance of emergency assistance will prevent eviction.

The family must be able to secure housing, utilities, or be able to prevent the eviction, foreclosure, or utility shutoff, with a one time rent, deposit, mortgage, or utility payment.

The family must demonstrate how it will resolve past due payments and pay future months' rent, mortgage, or utility payments after resolution of the crisis.

The family must have exhausted all other resources first.

The family is not required to provide written verification that other resources have been exhausted unless there is reason to question the customer statement or there is a question regarding a specific resource.

The value of the household's assets cannot exceed $2000.00. Countable assets are those immediately available to the family members.

The gross income available to the household cannot exceed 185% of the Standard Needs Budget (SNB), based on the household's size. See Table 1 for income amounts that are 185% of the SNB.

This is a time limited program. See policy 285 .

The household must have an eligible dependent child. See policy 228 for information on household composition for EA.

Note: EA customers are not subject to the Substance Abuse Determination Process.