Page 22

TANF Transmittal 65

901.8 - 901.9 TANF MANUAL 10/18 _ Page 8a

901.8 VEHICLE VALUE LIMIT - Repealed effective December 1, 2003.

901.9 TWENTY-FOUR MONTH LIMIT FOR TANF ELIGIBILITY - An assistance unit participating in the VIEW Program is limited to twenty-four months of TANF eligibility. The twenty-four months of eligibility is an accumulated period of time, which includes any month that an individual was a mandatory participant on the first day of the month.

A month in which the TANF payment is suspended is counted as a month of participation. When a mandatory VIEW participant becomes exempt, the case is placed in inactive status, or the TANF case closes, the 24-month count stops. If a TANF case closes with months remaining in the 24-month period, the count will resume at the point it stopped, when a new TANF application has been approved and a new Agreement of Personal Responsibility has been signed.

An assistance unit (AU) that had time left on the clock when the TANF case closed begins a new 24- month period if the AU did not receive TANF for at least 24-months after case closure. (Note: This does not apply to cases that were not closed but were in a suspended status. For TANF purposes, a suspended TANF case is considered an open TANF case even though no payments are issued for the month of suspension. Therefore, if the reason the AU did not receive TANF for a particular month was due to suspension instead of closure, that month will not be included in the count of months in which the AU did not receive TANF.) Sanctions will not carry over into a new twenty-four month period.

Hardship Exception to the Twenty-Four Month Time Limit: The ESW may grant a hardship exception according to the hardship criteria found in Section 1000.24. The ESW must notify the eligibility worker when the hardship exception is to end, allowing time for the ten-day Advance Notice of Proposed Action to be mailed by the eligibility worker to the participant. The eligibility worker must close the TANF case. A hardship exception is an extension of the time limit and cannot be granted during the period of ineligibility (see 901.11).

A TANF case that is granted a hardship extension is not eligible for the VIEW payment calculation. (See 901.7.)

24-Month Time Limit Rules for Two-Parent Cases: Prior to March 2008, the 24-month clock advanced simultaneously for both parents even if only one parent participated in VIEW. Effective March 1, 2008, the 24-month clock advances based on actual months of VIEW participation for each parent.

1. Each parent has his own VIEW clock. The months on the clock will advance only when the parent participates in VIEW, or is in a VIEW sanction.

When a VIEW participant leaves the assistance unit for any reason, the time on his clock stays on his individual clock. If the other parent did not participate in VIEW, she does not have a 24-month clock. If she has participated in VIEW, her VIEW months will stay with her.

Note: When either parent reaches 24 months on the VIEW clock, the TANF case will close. All family members in the household at the time of the TANF case closure will be subject to a VIEW period of ineligibility.