Library: Policy
340:50-5-29. Homeless households
Revised 10-2-19
(a) A household is not required to have a fixed residence in order to receive food benefits. A homeless household may include one or more homeless persons.
(b) Per 271.2 of Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations (7 C.F.R. § 271.2), homeless person means a person who lacks a fixed and regular nighttime residence or a person whose primary nighttime residence is a:
(1) supervised shelter designed to provide temporary accommodations;
(2) half-way house or similar institution providing temporary residence for persons intended to be institutionalized;
(3) temporary accommodation in the residence of another person of not more than 90-calendar days from the application date. The worker applies the 90-calendar day time frame to each subsequent temporary accommodation in a different household and location; or
(4) place not designed for, or ordinarily used, as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, such as a hallway, bus station, lobby, car, or similar places.
(c) Per 7 C.F.R. §273.2(f)(4)(v) and Oklahoma Administrative Code 340:50-7-31, when a homeless household incurs or expects to incur a shelter cost during the month, the household is eligible for the standard homeless shelter deduction, per Oklahoma Department of Human Services Appendix C-3, Maximum Food Benefit Allotments and Standards for Income and Deductions, or the excess shelter deduction, whichever results in the most food benefits for the household. • 1 Homeless shelter costs may include a monthly vehicle payment when the household lives in the vehicle, payments to friends or neighbors for sleeping accommodations, camping fees, or hotel or motel charges. • 2
INSTRUCTIONS TO STAFF 340:50-5-29
Issued 10-2-19
1. Refer to Oklahoma Administrative Code 340:50-7-31(a)(6) for information regarding how the excess shelter deduction is determined.
2. The worker enters one of the four homeless shelter codes in the Case Information tab 'shelter type' field, Information Management System (IMS) block A23 of the Family Assistance/Client Services (FACS) Interview Notebook; A, B, C, or D. The worker also enters 'yes' or 'no' in the 'homeless shelter costs' field of the FACS Shelter Tab, IMS block C61 to indicate whether the household has shelter costs associated with being homeless. When the answer is:
(1) 'no,' the worker enters zero in 'shelter cost' field, IMS block 54 and 'N' in the 'utility indicator' field, IMS block 59 of the FACS Shelter Tab; or
(2) 'yes,' the worker enters the claimed shelter expense in the 'shelter cost' field, IMS block 54 and when the household claims utility costs, the applicable utility indicator in the 'utility indicator' field, IMS block 59 of the FACS Shelter Tab. The system calculates the household's income and allows the shelter deduction that results in the most benefits for the household.
