2023 New York Laws › SOS - Social Services › Article 5 - Assistance and Care › Title 3 - Home Relief › 158 - Eligibility.

§  158. Eligibility. 1. A person is eligible for safety net assistance
who is financially needy as determined in accordance with title  one  of
this  article  and  the  regulations  promulgated  thereunder, is not in
sanction status for a program authorized by this chapter and:
(a) resides in a family which is ineligible for family  assistance  or
other  assistance  funded  by the federal temporary assistance for needy
families block grant because an adult in the  family  has  exceeded  the
maximum  durational limits on such assistance contained in section three
hundred fifty of this chapter, or
(b) is an adult who would otherwise be eligible for family  assistance
except that he or she does not reside with a dependent child, or
(c)  resides  in  a family that would otherwise be eligible for family
assistance except that at least one adult or minor head of household has
been determined in accordance with section  one  hundred  thirty-two  of
this  article  to  be  abusing  illegal  substances  or  engaging in the
habitual and excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, or
(d) is under the age of eighteen, not living with his or her child and
has no adult relatives with whom to reside, or
(e) resides in a family in  which  a  person  required  to  submit  to
screening  or  evaluation  for  use  of  illegal drugs or excess alcohol
consumption pursuant to section one hundred thirty-two of  this  article
refused to comply, or
(f)  resides  in  a  family  which includes a person disqualified from
receiving assistance pursuant to paragraph (f) of  subdivision  four  of
section one hundred thirty-two of this article, or
(g)  is  a  qualified  alien  who  is ineligible to receive assistance
funded under the temporary assistance for  needy  families  block  grant
solely  because  of  section  four hundred three of the federal personal
responsibility and work opportunity reconciliation  act  of  1996  (P.L.
104-193)  or  is a noncitizen who is permanently residing under color of
law but is not a qualified alien.
2. A person who shall be eligible for family assistance  according  to
the  provisions  of  title  ten  of this article shall be granted family
assistance and while receiving such aid shall not be eligible for safety
net assistance. A person who is receiving federal supplemental  security
income  payments  and/or additional state payments shall not be eligible
for safety net assistance. A person who is  eligible  for  refugee  cash
assistance  pursuant  to  the plan established pursuant to section three
hundred fifty-eight of this article shall not be eligible for safety net
assistance. An applicant for or recipient of safety net assistance shall
be required, as a condition of eligibility for safety net assistance, to
sign a written authorization  allowing  the  secretary  of  the  federal
department  of  health  and human services to pay to the social services
district his or her initial supplemental  security  income  payment  and
allowing  the social services district to deduct from his or her initial
payment the amount of safety net assistance granted for  any  month  for
which   he  or  she  subsequently  is  determined  eligible  to  receive
supplemental  security  income  benefits.  For  the  purposes  of   this
subdivision  the term "initial payment" shall refer to the first payment
of supplemental  security  income  benefits  after  a  person  files  an
application  for  benefits  or after a person who has been terminated or
suspended from eligibility for  supplemental  security  income  benefits
subsequently has been found eligible for such benefits. An applicant for
safety  net  assistance  who reasonably appears to meet the criteria for
eligibility for federal supplemental security income payments shall also
be required, as a condition of eligibility for safety net assistance, to
apply for such payments and shall, if otherwise  eligible  therefor,  be
eligible  for  safety  net  assistance  until  he  or she has received a

federal supplemental security income payment. Further, if  an  applicant
for  safety net assistance is required to apply for federal supplemental
security  payments  and  is  denied,  such  person  shall,  subject   to
department regulation, also be required as a condition of eligibility to
appeal his or her denial and exhaust his or her administrative remedies;
such  person shall remain eligible for safety net assistance, so long as
he or she otherwise remains eligible while his or her appeal is pending.
3. A person shall not be eligible for safety net  assistance  who  has
made  a  voluntary assignment or transfer of property for the purpose of
qualifying for such aid. A transfer of property made within one year  of
the  date  of  application  shall  be presumed to have been made for the
purpose of qualifying for such assistance.
4. Social services officials shall determine  eligibility  for  safety
net assistance within thirty days of receiving an application for safety
net  assistance.  Such  officials  shall notify applicants of safety net
assistance about  the  availability  of  assistance  to  meet  emergency
circumstances or to prevent eviction.
5.  Application  for or receipt of safety net assistance shall operate
as an assignment to the state and the social services district concerned
of any rights to support that accrue during the  period  that  a  family
receives  safety  net assistance from any other person as such applicant
or recipient may have either on their own behalf or  on  behalf  of  any
other  family member for whom the applicant or recipient is applying for
or receiving assistance. Applicants for  or  recipients  of  safety  net
assistance  shall  be  informed  that such application for or receipt of
such benefits will constitute such an assignment. Such assignment  shall
terminate with respect to current support rights upon a determination by
the  social services district that such person is no longer eligible for
safety net assistance, except with respect to the amount of  any  unpaid
support  obligation  that  has  accrued  during the period that a family
received safety net assistance.
6. In addition to other eligibility requirements, each person  who  is
applying  for  or  receiving  assistance  under  this  title, and who is
otherwise eligible for assistance under this title, shall  be  required,
as a further condition of eligibility for such assistance:
(i) to assign to the state and the social services district any rights
to  support  that accrue during the period that a family receives safety
net assistance from any other person as such applicant or recipient  may
have  either on their own behalf or on behalf of any other family member
for whom the  applicant  or  recipient  is  applying  for  or  receiving
assistance; and
(ii)  to cooperate with the state and the social services official, in
accordance with standards established by regulations of  the  office  of
temporary  and  disability  assistance  consistent  with federal law and
regulations,  in  establishing   the   paternity   of   a   child   born
out-of-wedlock for whom assistance under this title is being applied for
or  received,  in  their  efforts  to  locate  any  absent parent and in
obtaining support payments or any other payments or  property  due  such
person  and due each child for whom assistance under this title is being
applied for or received, except that an applicant or recipient shall not
be required to cooperate in such efforts in cases in  which  the  social
services official has determined, in accordance with criteria, including
the  best  interests  of the child, as established by regulations of the
office of temporary and disability assistance  consistent  with  federal
law  and regulations, that such applicant or recipient has good cause to
refuse  to  cooperate.  Each  social  services  district  shall   inform
applicants  for  and  recipients  of  safety  net assistance required to
cooperate with the state and local social services officials pursuant to

the provisions of this paragraph, that where a proceeding  to  establish
paternity  has  been  filed,  and  the  allegation of paternity has been
denied by the respondent,  there  shall  be  a  stay  of  all  paternity
proceedings and related social services district proceedings until sixty
days  after the birth of the child. Such applicants and recipients shall
also be informed that public assistance and care  shall  not  be  denied
during  a  stay  on  the  basis  of refusal to cooperate pursuant to the
provisions of this paragraph.
7. As a condition  of  eligibility  for  the  receipt  of  safety  net
assistance, every applicant for such assistance must:
(i)  sign  an  agreement which provides that, if it is determined that
money is owed to the social services district because of overpayments of
safety net assistance to the applicant while a recipient of  safety  net
assistance,  the  applicant  agrees to repay any such money that remains
due after the applicant ceases to receive safety net assistance; and
(ii) sign an assignment of future earnings on a form prescribed by the
department to secure the repayment of  any  money  that  is  determined,
after  providing  the  opportunity for a fair hearing in accordance with
section twenty-two of this chapter, to be owed to  the  social  services
district  because  of  overpayments  of  safety  net  assistance  to the
applicant while a recipient of safety  net  assistance.  The  prescribed
form  shall include the following notice: "THIS AGREEMENT AUTHORIZES THE
SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICT TO  RECOVER  ANY  OVERPAYMENT  OF  YOUR  PUBLIC
ASSISTANCE BENEFITS BY COLLECTING THE AMOUNT OF THE OVERPAYMENT DIRECTLY
FROM  YOUR  FUTURE WAGES. IF YOU FAIL TO MAKE THE PAYMENTS REQUIRED BY A
REPAYMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND THE SOCIAL  SERVICES  DISTRICT,  THE
SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICT WILL FILE THIS AGREEMENT WITH YOUR EMPLOYER AND
RECOVER  THE  OVERPAYMENT  DIRECTLY  FROM  YOUR WAGES." In addition, the
assignment of future earnings and the enforcement  thereof  must  comply
with  all  requirements of article three-A of the personal property law.
The social services district may file the assignment of future  earnings
with  the  employer  of  the assignor only if the assignor fails to make
payments of money owed to the social  services  district  in  accordance
with the agreement required in paragraph (i) of this subdivision.
8. No person who resides with his or her minor child shall be eligible
for  safety net assistance except as provided in subdivision one of this
section.