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 1 - Determination of Eligibility-General › Part 352 - Standards of Assistance › Section 352.31 - Estimate of need and application of income

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a)
For applicant or recipient.
(1)
			 The estimate of need for any applicant or recipient shall include all items of
			 need as specified in these regulations for persons in the circumstances under
			 which such items are allowed. The amount to be included for each item of need
			 shall be the appropriate amount provided in accordance with schedules and other
			 provisions of these regulations. To the extent that an item offered is
			 otherwise provided, it shall not be included in the estimate of need, but the
			 manner in which such item is provided shall be recorded.
(2) All available and unrestricted income of
			 a legally responsible relative in the home and/or a relative required to be in
			 the public assistance household pursuant to section
			 352.30 
			 of this Part must be applied against his/her own needs and the needs of the
			 other persons in the public assistance household. In determining eligibility
			 and standard of need, if one of the relatives referenced in this paragraph is
			 sanctioned under Part 347, 349, 352, 369, 370 or 385 of this Title, all of that
			 person's income, minus any appropriate disregards under section
			 352.19
			 or
			 352.20 
			 of this Part, must be applied against the needs of the public assistance
			 household.
(3) The amount of income
			 received by the applicant or recipient in excess of $15 per month from a
			 lodger, or in excess of income of $60 per month from a boarding lodger, shall
			 be considered as income to the applicant or recipient, unless such applicant or
			 recipient documents that the actual out-of-pocket expenses incurred in
			 providing the room for the lodger exceed $15 per month, or that such expenses
			 for room and board for the boarding lodger exceed $60 per month. If documented
			 expenses exceed $15 or $60, actual expenses shall be allowed and the excess
			 considered income to the applicant or recipient.
(4) Support payments made pursuant to an
			 order of the Family Court or other appropriate court by an individual through a
			 social services district's support collection unit on behalf of a safety net
			 assistance applicant or recipient, must be applied in the safety net assistance
			 category as follows: an amount of current child or child and spousal support
			 collected on behalf of the safety net assistance household must be disregarded
			 and paid to the safety net assistance household pursuant to section
			 352.15  of this
			 Part. The remaining amount must be used for purposes of determining eligibility
			 for public assistance, and then applied as reimbursement for public assistance
			 paid to the safety net assistance household on whose behalf such support
			 payments are collected.
(5) Support
			 payments required to be made directly to a recipient by an individual pursuant
			 to an order of the Family Court or other appropriate court will be treated in
			 the safety net assistance category only as follows:
(i) If there has been habitual failure to
			 make court-ordered support payments or where the circumstances are such that
			 there are reasonable grounds to believe that such support payments will not be
			 made, the income therefrom may be considered as irregular as to amount or
			 uncertain as to receipt and the provisions of subdivision (c) of this section
			 shall be considered as applicable.
(ii) Failure to make at least three payments
			 in full during the preceding three-month period shall be deemed to constitute
			 an habitual failure to make payments.
(iii) The following shall constitute
			 reasonable grounds to believe that court-ordered support payments will not be
			 made by the individual who has been ordered to make such payments:
(a) the individual has failed to make at
			 least three consecutive court-ordered support payments in full; or
(b) the whereabouts of the individual are
			 unknown; or
(c) the individual is
			 known to be unemployed; or
(d) the
			 individual's sole means of support is known to be public assistance or
			 supplemental security income or both; or
(e) the individual is confined to a medical
			 institution or is obviously too ill or incapacitated to work; or
(f) the individual is incarcerated in a penal
			 institution.
(iv) In
			 cases in which the individual is making payments on a regularly recurring
			 basis, but in an amount less than the amount stated in the court order, such
			 lesser amount only shall be applied against the needs of the applicants or
			 recipients in determining the amount of the grant.
(v) For current child or child and spousal
			 support received directly by a safety net assistance household in a month, an
			 amount determined pursuant to section
			 352.15  of this
			 Part must be disregarded.
(6) Upon notification by the support
			 collection unit of the amount of current support collected for a month for a
			 recipient of public assistance, the public assistance unit must review the
			 household's eligibility to receive public assistance. This review must be
			 conducted no later than the second month after the month in which the public
			 assistance unit receives from the support collection unit the report of the
			 current support collected for the month. In determining whether the amount of
			 current support collected was sufficient to make the family ineligible for
			 assistance during the month for which the support was collected, the public
			 assistance unit must treat the amount of support collected, less the portion
			 disregarded pursuant to section
			 352.15  of this
			 Part, as income. If such treatment makes the family ineligible for assistance,
			 the public assistance unit must notify the family and the support collection
			 unit of the effective date of the household's ineligibility for assistance. If
			 such treatment does not make the household ineligible for an assistance
			 payment, the assistance payment will be calculated without regard to the amount
			 of support collected.
(7) If
			 assistance which is countable under the durational time limit provisions of
			 section
			 369.4
			 or
			 370.4 
			 of this Title continues to be paid after the effective date of ineligibility
			 pursuant to paragraph (6) of this subdivision, the social services district
			 shall adjust the time limit count of trackable individuals in the case to
			 remove the months of ineligibility during which countable assistance was
			 issued.
(8) Any amount of support
			 paid to the household pursuant to section
			 347.13(b)(3)(iv),
			 (v), (vi), (vii), (c)(2)(iii), (iv), or (v)
			 of this Title must be treated as income in the month after the month in which
			 the payment is received by the household.