New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 18 - DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
Chapter II - Regulations of the Department of Social Services
Subchapter B - Public Assistance
Article 1 - Determination of Eligibility-General
Part 352 - Standards of Assistance
Section 352.22 - Noncountable income and resources

Universal Citation: 18 NY Comp Codes Rules and Regs § 352.22

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024

Certain miscellaneous income and resources shall be exempt and disregarded in determining eligibility and the standard of need for public assistance, as follows:

(a) Relocation adjustment payments.

Any payment received under title II of the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 shall be exempt and disregarded as income and resources in determining eligibility or standard of need.

(b) Loans under title III of the Economic Opportunity Act.

The proceeds of a loan to a family made under title III of the Federal Economic Opportunity Act shall be exempt and disregarded as income and resources in determining eligibility or standard of need.

For purposes of determining eligibility and standard of need for federally funded public assistance, the principal amounts of bona fide loans do not count as income or resources. Funds received by an applicant or recipient of federally funded public assistance can be considered a bona fide loan when the applicant or recipient submits to the social services district one of the following types of documents:

(1) a signed written agreement between the applicant or recipient and an individual who or establishment which is engaged in the business of making loans which states that a loan was obtained from such individual or establishment; or

(2) a signed written agreement between a lender not normally engaged in the business of making loans and the applicant or recipient, which expresses the applicant's or recipient's intent to repay the loan within a specified time; or

(3) a signed written agreement between a lender not normally engaged in the business of making loans and the applicant or recipient, which expresses the applicant's or recipient's express intent to repay the loan either by specifying real or personal property which will be used as collateral for the loan by promising to repay the loan from anticipated income at the time that such income is received.

(d) Energy assistance payments.

Any Federal energy assistance payments received by applicants for or recipients of public assistance shall not be considered income or resources for any purpose in the determination of need, the amount of assistance payment or any other purpose relating to any public assistance program.

(e) Trust funds.

No application to the court need be made for the release of trust funds when the value of the trust, combined with other countable available resources, does not exceed the resource limits contained in section 352.23(b) of this Part. If the value of the trust, when combined with other countable assets, exceeds the resource limits contained in section 352.23(b) of this Part, the social services district must determine if the terms of the trust and the amount of funds in the trust warrant an application to the court to have funds in the trust released for the basic maintenance of the beneficiary of the trust. If the terms of the trust allow the trust funds to be used for basic maintenance purposes and the amount of funds in the trust warrant, application to the court must be made for release of the funds that exceed such resource limits.

(f) Major disaster and emergency assistance.

The following assistance is exempt as income or resources when determining eligibility and benefit amount for federally funded public assistance:

(1) Federal major disaster and emergency assistance provided under the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, as amended by the Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Amendments of 1988 ( Public Law 100-707); or

(2) comparable disaster assistance provided by states, local governments and disaster assistance organizations.

(g) Payments for board of child.

Payment received for a child boarded out in the home of a recipient by an agency or a relative of the child shall not be considered in estimating needs of the household or applying income.

(h) Income from family day care.

In the case of applicants for or recipients of public assistance and care who provide family day care for children, income of $5 per day for each child, excluding their own child may not be applied against the standard of need.

(i) Income from garden or livestock.

Value of produce from a garden or livestock shall be disregarded as income if the following conditions are met:

(1) the produce is for the exclusive use of the recipient and his dependents, and not for sale;

(2) no provision is made in the assistance plan for cost of production.

(j) Meals as income.

(1) When school lunches are furnished free, their value shall not be considered as income.

(2) When meals are furnished free, their value shall not be considered as income, except when more than one meal per day is furnished or when the recipient receives an allowance for meals away from home.

(k) Supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) benefits.

The value of SNAP benefits shall be exempt.

(l) Donated foods.

The value of federally donated foods shall be exempt.

(m) WIC program.

The value of benefits or assistance under the special supplemental program for women, infants and children (WIC program) shall not be considered as income or resources for any purpose relating to public assistance.

(n) Seneca Nation Settlement Act payments.

Any payments made pursuant to Public Law 101-503 (the Seneca Nation Settlement Act) are exempt and disregarded as income and resources in determining eligibility or standard of need for public assistance.

(o) Payment under the Domestic Volunteer Services Act.

(1) Reimbursement received for out-of-pocket expenses made to individuals serving as retired senior volunteers, foster grandparents, senior health aides, senior companions or any other volunteer providing services under title II of the Domestic Volunteer Services Act ( Public Law 93-113) are exempt and disregarded in determining eligibility for and standard of need for public assistance.

(2) Reimbursement received for out-of-pocket expenses made to volunteers in the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), Active Corps of Executives (ACE) or any other programs under title III of Public Law 93-113 (as amended by Public Law 95-510 ) are exempt and disregarded in determining eligibility for and standard of need for public assistance.

(p) Adoption subsidies.

An adoption subsidy payment received on behalf of a child not receiving public assistance must be excluded as income or resources when determining the amount of the public assistance grant for the remaining family members, except in cases where including the child in the public assistance household would increase the amount of the public assistance grant paid to the family. In such instances, the child must be included in the public assistance household and the adoption subsidy payment counted as income when determining the amount of public assistance.

(q) VISTA.

Any payments received by applicants for or recipients of public assistance who are volunteers under part A of title I of Public Law 93-113 (VISTA) must be exempted and disregarded as income and resources in determining eligibility and standard of need; provided, however, that all of the VISTA payment is to be counted as income when the director of the ACTION agency determines that the value of all such payments, adjusted to reflect the number of hours such volunteers are serving, is equivalent to or greater than the minimum wage.

(r) HUD community development block grant funds.

Any funds received by an applicant or recipient from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) community development block grants shall be exempt and disregarded as income and resources in determining eligibility or standard of need.

(s) Needs-based support or maintenance.

Any support or maintenance assistance (including home energy assistance) which is provided on the basis of need and which is either assistance furnished in kind by a private or nonprofit agency or assistance furnished in cash or in kind by a supplier of home heating oil or gas, by an entity whose revenues are primarily derived on a rate- of-return basis regulated by a State or Federal governmental entity, or by a municipal utility providing home energy, shall be exempt and disregarded as income and resources in determining eligibility or standard of need.

(t) Support disregard.

Current child or child and spousal support collections received in a month by a household (including support collections received by the support collection unit and paid to the family and payments made directly to the family) shall be disregarded as income or resources in determining eligibility or standard of need pursuant to section 352.15 of this Part.

(u) Payments to dependent children under the Job Training Partnership Act (JAPE).

Earned and unearned income derived through participation in a program carried out under the JTPA and paid to a dependent child shall be exempt and disregarded as income and resources in determining eligibility and standard of need of a household containing the dependent child unless such income is otherwise exempt and disregarded as student income under section 352.20 of this Part. Earned income shall be disregarded under this subdivision six months per calendar year for each such child.

(v) Agent Orange payments.

Effective January 1, 1989, the following payments are exempt as income or resources when determining public assistance eligibility and benefit amount when such payments are received from any of the following sources:

(1) payments provided from the Agent Orange settlement fund;

(2) payments from any other fund established pursuant to the settlement in the In re Agent Orange product liability litigation; or

(3) payments from court proceedings brought for personal injuries sustained by veterans resulting from exposure to dioxin or phenoxy herbicides in connection with the war in Indochina in the period of January 1, 1962 through May 7, 1975.

(w) Radiation exposure compensation.

Any payments received by applicants for or recipients of federally funded public assistance made under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (P.L. 101-426) for injuries or deaths resulting from exposure to radiation from nuclear testing and uranium mining are exempt and disregarded as income or resources in determining eligibility or standard of need for federally funded public assistance benefits.

(x) Restitution payments.

Any payments made pursuant to P.L. 100-383 and received by individuals of Japanese ancestry and natives of the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands for the purpose of restitution for wartime relocation and internment will be exempt and disregarded in determining eligibility or standard of need for federally funded public assistance benefits. Any such payments received by individuals of Japanese ancestry will also be exempt and disregarded in determining eligibility or standard of need for safety net assistance benefits.

(y) Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) distributions.

The following distributions from a native corporation formed pursuant to ANCSA are exempt as income or resources when determining eligibility for and benefit amount of federally funded public assistance:

(1) cash, to the extent that it does not, in the aggregate, exceed $2,000 per individual per year;

(2) stock;

(3) a partnership interest;

(4) land or an interest in land; and

(5) an interest in a settlement trust.

(z) Indian tribe or tribe member trust funds held by the Secretary of the Interior.

All funds that are held in trust by the Secretary of the Interior for an Indian tribe or are to be distributed per capita to members of that tribe are exempt as income or resources when determining eligibility for and benefit amount of federally funded public assistance.

(aa) Nazi persecution income.

Any payments made to individuals because of their status as victims of Nazi persecution as defined in Public Law 103-286 shall be exempt and disregarded as income and resources in determining the eligibility or standard of need for public assistance.

(ab) Veterans' assistance payments provided for under Public Law 104-204.

Veterans' assistance payments made to or on behalf of certain Vietnam veterans' natural adult or minor children for any disability resulting from spina bifida suffered by such children are exempt and disregarded as income or resources in determining eligibility or standard of need for safety net assistance and federally funded public assistance benefits.

(ac) Veterans' assistance payments covering birth defects.

Veterans' assistance payments made for covered birth defects to or on behalf of the adult or minor children of women Vietnam veterans in service in the Republic of Vietnam during the period beginning on February 28, 1961 and ending on May 7, 1975, are exempt and disregarded as income or resources in determining eligibility or standard of need for safety net assistance and federally funded public assistance benefits. Covered birth defects means any birth defect identified by the veterans' assistance program as a birth defect that is associated with the service of women Vietnam veterans in the Republic of Vietnam during the period beginning on February 28, 1961 and ending on May 7, 1975, and that has resulted or may result, in permanent physical or mental disability.

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