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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 20

West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 4 Chapter 20 Emergency and Special Assistance Programs

20.2.2.D Residency and Citizenship An applicant for EA must be a resident of West Virginia with the exception of transient individuals. See Specific Items of Need in Section 20.2.4 for specific requirements. The applicant must also be a United States (U.S.) citizen, a national of the U.S., or an eligible noncitizen (qualified noncitizen) as defined in Section 15.7. 20.2.2.E Assistance Groups (AG) Subject to a Penalty When the applicant is a member of an AG for which any DOHS program benefit was reduced, denied, or closed because of a penalty for fraud, non-cooperation, or failure to pursue potential resources, the applicant and members of that program’s AG are ineligible to receive EA. In making this determination, the following guidelines apply: • The applicant and members of the EA AG must have been an applicant for or client of the DOHS’s program that was reduced, denied, or closed. • The other DOHS program AG is in a penalty period at the time the application for EA is made. • This policy applies to all other DOHS programs that apply penalties for non-cooperation, fraud, or failure to pursue potential resources. When any of the situations described above exist, the AG is ineligible to receive EA until the penalty period ends or action is taken to pursue potential resources. This policy does not apply NOTE: The above stated guidelines include all WV WORKS sanctions. AGs subject to WV WORKS sanctions are ineligible for EA only during the first three months of the sanction. NOTE: For Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) penalties, the AG is only ineligible for EA during the first three months of the penalty. NOTE: For Medicaid penalties, the AG is ineligible until the day the failure to cooperate ceases.