Homeless Assistance Payment Information

[EAS 44-211.5]

Rules

An otherwise eligible Assistance Unit (AU) that has received an HA payment at any time on behalf of an eligible child, is not eligible for future HA payments during the established 12-month period, except under the following conditions:

There is a new caretaker relative who was not living with the AU at the time the payment was issued, AND
The new caretaker has not received temporary and permanent homeless assistance within a 12-month period on behalf of or as part of another AU, AND
The former caretaker relative is no longer living in the home with the AU.

Any adult living with an AU at the time HA is authorized who later becomes the caretaker for that AU is not eligible for additional HA during the 12-month period, unless the AU qualifies under an exception.

Example Example The parent of the mother in the AU (i.e. the grandmother of the child) resides with the AU at the time when the AU becomes homeless and receives TS and PH payments. After locating and moving into permanent housing, the mother leaves the home and the grandmother becomes caretaker relative; the AU once again becomes homeless. Since the grandmother lived with the AU at the time HA was received, she is not eligible for further HA benefits until the 12-month period has exhausted unless the AU qualifies under one of the exceptions.

Example Example Both parents are in the home and receive HA. The mother leaves the home and becomes the needy caretaker relative in another AU/case for her two nephews. She cannot receive HA again until the 12-month period has exhausted, unless the HA payment is made based upon an exception.

Inter-County Transfer (ICT)

[40-190.31; 44-211.515]

In ICT cases, the county where the AU is physically located and intends to reside is responsible for the HA eligibility determination and issuance of the HA payment from the date of the request.

When a client applies for benefits in the receiving county and does not have a permanent or temporary address, the receiving county will initiate an ICT request to the sending county. The receiving county will enter the appropriate homeless address for the client in the receiving county and include the homeless status of the client in the ICT comments section.

For Permanent Housing (PH) HA, if the AU locates housing in another county, it is the responsibility of the county in which the projected residence is located to make the eligibility determination. The Maximum Aid Payment (MAP) amount for the responsible county is used to determine the amount of PH payment.

Example Example An AU consisting of a child and the child’s caretaker relative moves from County A, a Region 1 county, to County B, a Region 2 county. The AU requests transfer and County A initiates an ICT. During the transfer period, the AU requests a HA payment. Since the request is for a TS payment, the request goes to the county where the AU is physically present. If the request were for PH, County B would determine eligibility for and make the PH payment based on the County B MAP amount.

CalSAWS Functionality in the Receiving County

Homeless-Temporary (HT) EDBC

HT EDBC will evaluate benefits when:

The Source of the CalWORKs (CW) program is ICT.
The ICT Status is Complete, and
- CW for the current month is denied due to being eligible in the Sending County, and
- CW for a future month is active in the Receiving County.

Important: The ICT Status Date must be within 90 days for HT EDBC to evaluate benefits.

Homeless-Permanent (HP) EDBC

HP EDBC will evaluate benefits when:

The Source of the CW program is ICT.
The ICT Status is In-Process, or
The ICT Status is Complete, and
- CW for the current month is denied due to being eligible in the Sending County, and
- CW for a future month is active in the Receiving County.

Important: The ICT Status Date must be within 90 days for H EDBC to evaluate benefits.

Eligible Providers

Part of the criteria to receive HA is that the provider of the housing must be one of the following:

A commercial establishment, or
A shelter, or
A publicly funded transitional housing place, or
A person or establishment with whom the applicant/recipient has executed a valid lease, sublease or shared housing agreement. Refer to Questions and Answers Regarding Shared Housing.

Note: The provider must have the legal right to do so and the renter must have the same legal protections granted to all renters in the state of California.

Verification

If the AU fails to pay a provider as defined above, issue any further payments as restricted (vendor) payments. Refer to Eligible Providers above.

Client's Choice of Payee

The AU has a choice of receiving payments directly or having a vendor payment, unless the EW determines mismanagement of funds.

If the client REQUESTS A VENDOR PAYMENT for a non-contract shelter provider, the EW must obtain an “Authorization to Release Information” (SC 1029), from the applicant/recipient and contact the provider to get agreement to the mail process.

Restricted Payment Rule

RESTRICTED PAYMENTS to both contract and non-contract shelter providers MUST BE COMPUTER GENERATED AND MAILED. Restricted payments are those issued when the EW determines that mismanagement has occurred. Refer to Mismanagement of Funds. There are exceptions to this rule. These are listed below as “Hand Issue TS Vendor Payments” and “Hand Issue PH Vendor Payments”. If the EW uses one of these exceptions, it must be thoroughly documented on the Journal Detail page

Hand Issue TS Vendor Payments

TS vendor payments may be hand carried by the client for delivery to the HA provider under the following situation:

The client has found an eligible provider who has temporary housing available, and
The eligible provider will not let the client move into their facility (motel/hotel/homeless shelter/camp grounds/fair grounds) until they receive the HA payment, and
The EW cannot meet the requirement to issue the initial TS payment within the same work day.

Hand Issue PH Vendor Payment

PH vendor payments may be hand carried by the client for delivery to the HA provider under the following situation:

The client has found an eligible provider for permanent housing, and
The eligible provider will not hold the house, apartment, or room for the client unless the security deposit is received.

Procedure to Hand Issue HA Payments

When it is necessary to allow the client to hand carry the HA payment to the eligible provider, District Office Check Cashing Card procedures must be followed.

Issue the HA payment in the name of the eligible provider and the client. When the warrant is issued in this manner it will require the signatures of both the provider and the client to cash the warrant. ExampleExampleMotel 6 and Mary Smith
Put the hand typed warrant in an envelope addressed to the eligible provider.
Seal the envelope and stamp the seal with the District Office address stamp.
Instruct the client to deliver the envelope to the provider, unopened.

Note: If the client manages to get someone other than the provider to cash the restricted payment, even though it is issued in the provider's name and the client's name, all further restricted payments must be mailed.

Mismanagement of Funds

Mismanagement of funds exists when:

The RECIPIENT’S homelessness is the result of failure to pay rent, other than for the following:
- A rent increase which results in the AU's rent, or share of the rent, being over 80 percent of the TMHI, without the special needs for an AU of that size.
- Reasonable exercise of a tenant's right to withhold rent for cause.
- Domestic violence by a spouse, partner, or roommate.
The EW determines that the HA payment was not used for shelter.
The client fails to provide verification that the TS payment was spent on shelter and/or the PH was spent appropriately.
The AU provides verification which shows that the HA payment was not paid to an appropriate provider.

Mismanagement does not exist if the client spent all the HA payment for shelter or if the client paid for temporary shelter for each night of the payment period.

Money Management

Failure or inability to provide verification of payment of shelter expenses constitutes a presumption of mismanagement of funds by the AU. All subsequent HA payments must be issued as “restricted payments”. The EW is required to assist the recipient in developing a greater ability to manage funds.

Restricted Payments

HA payments will be restricted and made payable to the provider when the EW determines that mismanagement has occurred.

Vendor payments due to the presumption of mismanagement of CalWORKs must be computer generated and mailed to the provider. Vendor payments due to the presumption of mismanagement SHALL NOT be given to the client to hand carry. Refer to Mismanagement of Funds for exceptions to this.

Once it is determined that restricted payments are to be issued, the remainder of a client’s Homeless Assistance payments for that incident of homelessness will be issued in this manner. If the AU received their TS as a restricted payment, any PH must also be issued as a restricted payment.

Overpayments

If either the TS or PH benefit is determined to be an overpayment, then that TS or PH payment is considered not to have been made. The AU can, therefore, reapply for that part of the benefit which was determined to be an overpayment.