New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 18 - DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES › Chapter II - Regulations of the Department of Social Services › Subchapter B - Public Assistance › Article 2 - Determination of Eligibility-Categorical › Part 370 - Safety Net Assistance › Section 370.3 - Emergency and short-term cases

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a)
			 General. Social services districts must authorize safety net assistance to
			 provide for the effective and prompt relief of identified needs which cannot be
			 provided for under Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EAF)
			 or Family Assistance (FA), including presumptive eligibility for FA. Emergency
			 and short-term assistance is limited to the items, conditions and amounts
			 specified in Part 352 of this Subchapter. The district must provide necessary
			 supervision to such cases in order to modify or terminate grants as quickly as
			 circumstances require. An emergency or short-term case is a case in which need
			 is presumed to continue for a period of less than three months; provided,
			 however, that cases in which frequent reapplications for assistance are made
			 are not considered emergency or short-term.
(b) Eligibility for emergency safety net
			 assistance. Social services districts must authorize emergency safety net
			 assistance only under the following conditions:
(1) there is an identified emergency need. An
			 emergency is a serious occurrence or situation needing prompt action;
(2) the individual or household is without
			 income or resources immediately available to meet the emergency need and the
			 individual's or household's gross income at the time of application does not
			 exceed 125 percent of the current Federal income official poverty line, as
			 defined and annually revised by the United States Department of Health and
			 Human Services under the authority of
			 42
			 U.S.C. 9902(2). For purposes
			 of determining eligibility for assistance pursuant to this section, these
			 annually revised poverty lines are effective April 1st through March 31st of
			 each State fiscal year. If the emergency is the result of a fire, flood or
			 other like catastrophe or if the emergency assistance is granted in accordance
			 with section
			 352.5(c)-(e) 
			 of this Title, the individual's or household's gross income at the time of
			 application can exceed 125 percent of the Federal income official poverty
			 guideline;
(3) the emergency need
			 cannot be met under the emergency assistance to needy families with children,
			 the Home Energy Assistance Program, FA or safety net assistance
			 programs;
(4) the applicant is not
			 disqualified from receiving recurring assistance or subject to a durational
			 sanction, or the emergency did not arise because the applicant had previously
			 been disqualified or sanctioned for failure to comply with the nonfinancial
			 requirements of this Title; and
(5)
			 in an application for an allowance to pay shelter arrears where the applicant
			 reasonably demonstrates an ability to pay shelter expenses, including any
			 amounts in excess of the appropriate local agency maximum monthly shelter
			 allowance in the future. In determining an applicant's ability to pay shelter
			 expenses, a social services district must consider the applicant's ability to
			 make payments under any repayment agreements entered into in accordance with
			 this paragraph. However, when in the judgment of the local social services
			 official, the individual or household has sufficient income or resources to
			 secure and maintain alternate permanent housing, shelter arrears need not be
			 paid to maintain a specific housing accommodation. To receive assistance to pay
			 shelter arrears, the applicant must sign an agreement to repay the assistance
			 in a period not to exceed 12 months from receipt of such assistance. The
			 repayment agreement must set forth a schedule of payments that will assure
			 repayment within the 12-month period, and must specify the frequency of the
			 payments, the due date of the first payment, the address to where payments must
			 be made and the consequences of failing to repay the assistance as agreed.
			 Subsequent assistance to pay arrears may not be granted unless there are no
			 past-due amounts owed under any such repayment agreement. The social services
			 district, in addition to any rights it has pursuant to the Social Services Law,
			 may enforce the repayment agreement in any manner available to a
			 creditor.