Homeless Shelters

Definition

A homeless shelter is a public or private-nonprofit establishment that temporarily houses homeless persons.

A homeless shelter, may also be considered a homeless meal provider, which is a public or private-nonprofit establishment such as a soup kitchen or temporary shelter that feeds homeless people. Meals served must include food purchased by the homeless meal provider.

In order to be eligible to use CalFresh benefits at a homeless meal provider, individuals must meet the definition of homeless. For more on Homeless Households, refer to Definition [63-102(h)(2)].

The homeless meal provider may only request voluntary use of CalFresh benefits from homeless recipients to pay for meals. If requested, the homeless meal provider cannot ask the recipients to pay more than the average cost of meals at the shelter.

Note: If non-CalFresh recipient clients of the homeless meal provider have the option to eat free or make monetary donation, the same option must be made available to CalFresh recipients.

Important: Homeless meal providers, including those that are also shelters for the homeless, may not designate an employee to act as a CalFresh AR.