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OMM/OCFS/OTDA Materials: 2001 GIS Messages
GIS 01 TA/042: The Impact of Operation Enduring Freedom
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GIS 01 TA/042
New York's Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) has just issued this GIS message in answer to questions that have arisen about how the local districts should be handling household budgets for families with a member called to active duty as a result of the World Trade Center disaster. A quick summary of OTDA's directions to the local districts follows. This summary was written by Barbara Weiner from the Greater Upstate Law Project.
Temporary Assistance: For both Family Assistance and Safety Net Assistance, the individual called to duty is considered temporarily absent from the applicant or recipient household. Thus his needs, income and resources are counted in full. There is no time limit on the "temporary" nature of the absence. It is only if the absent member decides to establish residence somewhere else that the absence can no longer be considered temporary.
Assistance to meet short term needs: Eligibility to meet short term needs is based on the income and resources the household has available to meet its need at the time of application for benefits. This is determined on a case by case basis by the local district, with the worker to determine first if an emergency exists, then if the emergency has given rise to immediate needs and, finally, what income and resources, including family and community resources, does the family have available to meet its need.
Food Stamps: The food stamp program does not use the concept of temporary absence. Food stamp households generally consist of those people who live and eat together. Though someone can be considered a member of a food stamp household who only lives with the household a part of the month, no benefits can be issued to someone for months in which (s)he is totally absent from the household. Food stamp households with earned income subject to 6 month reporting are not required to report the loss of a household member during the reporting period. However, doing so may increase the food stamp benefits if the absent member is the primary wage earner. Only so much of his income as is actually contributed to the food stamp household would be budgeted towards the food stamp allotment. Even if all the income to the household is lost, the household remains on six month reporting until the next recertification.
HEAP and Medicaid: Medicaid and HEAP budgeting rules follow the rules of temporary assistance in the treatment of temporarily absent members. For emergency HEAP, only the income actually available to the household is counted when determining eligibility.
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Created: 10/11/2001
Updated: 10/11/2001
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