Motel Reimbursement for Homeless

Homeless applicants/recipients who do not incur shelter expenses are entitled to the Personal Needs portion of the General Assistance (GA) grant. Homeless applicants/recipients who decline shelter placement due to personal preference or leave shelter due to personal preference, may be entitled to reimbursement of motel (or lodging) expenses if all other GA eligibility criteria is met. The reimbursement amount must not exceed the difference between the Personal Needs and the Maximum Aid to be paid. All reimbursements are made in a month for the month.

Important: Motel reimbursement is an alternative to shelter. If a client has been in shelter during the month, they will not be eligible for motel reimbursement until the following month.

Note: HMIS is not always updated in real-time. If HMIS shows that a client is currently in shelter, but the client reports they are not, the Social Services Benefits Specialist (SSBS) must attempt to contact the shelter listed to get an exit date. If the SSBS is unable to reach anyone at the shelter, the exit date reported by the client must be accepted.

Motel Reimbursement Guidelines

The following applies when issuing motel reimbursement payments:

The applicant/recipient must be homeless at the time the reimbursement is requested.
The applicant/recipient must have a completed Social Services Mail Request/Agreement (SCD 1483). [Refer to "Homeless Mailing Overview" in the Common Place HB].
Reimbursements can only be paid for stays/lodging within Santa Clara County limits.
Reimbursement can only be paid with verification of a valid receipt. Refer to Verification of Motel Stay below.
Motel receipt(s) must be verified with the motel (lodging facility) prior to reimbursement payments.
All motel reimbursements are made in the month and for the month.
Shared housing payment standards must be applied when the motel stay/lodging was shared with one or more persons. [Refer to Homeless Shared Housing].
The client must be given a Motel Reimbursement Receipt (GA 39 M) with each motel reimbursement paid. [Refer to Motel Reimbursement Receipt - GA 39M].

Verification of Motel Stay

All motel stays (or lodging) and the amount paid must be verified to prevent fraud and to confirm the legitimacy of the receipt provided by the client. The SSBS is to call the motel where the client stayed. At no time will the client be paid before the verification of the stay is completed. Actions taken must be documented in a CalSAWS Journal Entry.

To be valid, the motel receipt must include the following:

Information about the stay - Full name of the person who stayed in the motel, number of occupants in the room, date(s) of stay, and payment method.

Motel’s information - Business name, physical address, and valid telephone number.

Note: Motel verification is not needed for the INITIAL claim at intake. However, if a client presents a receipt, it should be honored. In this case, a reimbursement may be issued for the verified amount, not to exceed the maximum allowed. The amount of future reimbursements for this month will depend on the remaining housing allowance. A GA 39M must be issued.

Stays in Airbnb

Airbnb is an online marketplace for arranging lodging, primary home-stays, or vacation rentals. Reimbursements for Airbnb stays must follow the same conditions as motel reimbursements. The following applies to Airbnb stays:

Airbnb stays are booked and paid for electronically through the Airbnb website.
Offline or cash payments are a violation of Airbnb's terms of service. (Airbnb does not accept cash payments and often times requires a security deposit).
Airbnb guests are provided with an email receipt confirming that the reservation has been paid.
Airbnb users are able to contact the host. Therefore GA applicants/recipients must be able to provide this information to the SSBS in order to verify the stay.

Reminder: If the stay was shared with other person(s), the payment must be prorated accordingly.

Important: All conditions must be clarified/verified before a reimbursement is made. At no time will the reimbursement be issued until verification of the stay is completed. Thorough documentation is required in a CalSAWS Journal Entry.

Payments Made with Third Party Credit Cards

Motel reimbursement payments are issued when a homeless applicant/recipient who incurred shelter expenses requests reimbursement and all reimbursement criteria are met. Third party credit card receipts are not an acceptable form of verifying that the applicant/recipient incurred the expenses and are not allowed as valid receipts.

Payments Made with Gift Cards

Gift cards may be used as an acceptable form of payment for motel stays submitted for motel reimbursement. When a gift card is used, the SSBS must ask the client how the card was obtained. Specifically, it must be determined whether the gift card was:

A personal gift
- If the gift card was a personal gift, it must be treated as a cash gift. Only the first $25 is exempt.
Provided by a nonprofit organization
- If the gift card was provided by a non-profit organization, the participant must submit verification. If verification cannot be provided, the gift card must be treated as cash.
Purchased using GA funds
- Verification must be submitted to confirm that the card was purchased with GA funds. Acceptable verification may include a receipt showing the EBT card was used to purchase the gift card. If no verification is available, the participant may complete a Sworn Statement (GEN 853) as a last resort.

Motel Reimbursement Receipt - GA 39M

The GA 39 M is a mandatory form that must be completed by the SSBS to inform the applicant/recipient of the amount of GA grant reserved for housing for the remaininder of the month.

The GA 39M must be retrieved from the DEBS Forms Library. It must be completed manually and provided to the client each time a reimbursement is issued.

Calculating the Housing Assistance Payments

The INITIAL housing assistance payment is calculated by dividing the housing assistance amount by the number of weeks remaining in the month.

Subsequent housing assistance reimbursement payments are issued for the verified amount (based on a valid receipt), not to exceed the maximum amount of aid.

ExampleExampleA client applies for GA on Wednesday, June 1st, and clears eligibility on the same day (for this example, there are five Wednesdays in the month of June). The worker authorizes $150 for client’s Personal Needs.
The amount of housing allowance for this month is calculated as follows:
Maximum GA grant minus the amount of personal needs ($343 - $150 = $193).
The INITIAL housing allowance payment in this example is $38.60 ($193/5 wks).
The remaining housing allowance for this month is $154.40 ($193-$38.60), which may be issued within the month as requested by the recipient. [Refer to “Examples of Processing Motel Reimbursement Payments,” section 15.18.7].

Note: The $343 Maximum Grant and $150 Personal Needs values are as of 4/2016.

The client is entitled to request subsequent reimbursements as frequently as every week, or at their convenience within the month.

[Refer to CB 23-38 for instructions and "Motel Reimbursement Examples" in the DEBS BP].