Motel Reimbursement Examples

Refer to CB 23-38 for CalSAWS instructions. The following are examples of the processing of motel reimbursements payments:

Example 1: A GA client clears eligibility on Monday March 1 and is paid $150 for Personal Needs. From the remaining $193 reserved for housing assistance payment, the client is paid $48.25 to spend the night at a motel. This amount was calculated by dividing the amount reserved for housing assistance by the number of Mondays in the month. (This time March had 4 Mondays.)

The balance on housing assistance allowance that can be used for motel reimbursement is as follows:

$193.00 Maximum housing allowance
- $48.25 Motel allowance paid 
$144.75 Remaining housing allowance 

The client is provided with a “Motel Reimbursement Receipt” (GA 39 M) indicating the amount reserved for motel reimbursement that may be claimable for the month.

Example 2: The same client in example 1 returns one week later on March 8th to a continuing worker and provides a motel receipt of $60.00. Since this amount does not exceed the remaining housing allowance balance of $144.75, the total amount of $60.00 is paid. 

The new remaining balance is now as follows:

$144.75 Remaining housing allowance
-$60.00 Motel reimbursement paid 
$84.75 New remaining housing allowance balance 

The client is provided with a “Motel Reimbursement Receipt” (GA 39M) indicating the amount reserved for housing allowance that may be claimable for the month. 

Example 3: The same client as in example 2 returns two weeks later on March 22, and provides two motel receipts totaling $120.00. Since this amount exceeds the remaining balance of $84.25, the client is paid only the balance of $84.75 noted in the GA 39M that was previously provided to him/her. The EW questions the client on how they were able to pay this amount as it exceeds the amount of aid received and the client had declared no other income.

Example 4: On June 25, a GA recipient who has been paid only Personal Needs of $150.00, provides three motel receipts of $65.00 each, for a total of $195.00. The EW questions the client on how he/she is able to pay an amount exceeding the amount of aid received and declaring no other income. The client declares that he/she borrowed money to be able to stay in the motel and provides a loan agreement signed by the lender and borrower. The EW verifies the motel stay and the loan agreement. Since the recipient is entitled to a maximum of $193.00 for housing assistance and has not claimed any housing assistance for the month, the recipient is paid the maximum $193.00.

The recipient is provided with a GA 39M indicating $0.00 in amount reserved for housing assistance for the remaining of the month.