Current through Vol. 42, No. 1, September 16, 2024
(a)
Household
definition. A food benefit household is composed of one of the persons
or groups of persons listed in (1) through (3) of this subsection, unless
otherwise specified in this Section. Per Section
273.1 of Title 7 of the Code of
Federal Regulations, a food benefit household is a:
(1) person who lives alone;
(2) person or group of persons who lives with
others, but customarily purchases food and prepares meals for home consumption
separate and apart from the others; or
(3) group of persons who lives together and
customarily purchases food and prepares meals for home consumption.
(b)
Required household
combinations. Separate food benefit household status may not be granted
to persons described in (1) through (4) of this subsection even if they
customarily purchase food and prepare meals for home consumption separate and
apart from the others. Persons living together that must be included in the
food benefit household include:
(1) a
ceremonial or common law spouse of a household member;
(2) children 21 years of age and younger who
live with their natural or adoptive parent(s) or stepparent(s);
(3) children who are 17 years of age and
younger and live with, and are under the parental control of, a household
member other than their natural or adoptive parent(s) or stepparent(s).
(A) The worker considers a child to be under
parental control for purposes of this provision if the child is financially or
otherwise dependent on a food benefit household member and is not defined as an
adult. A minor is considered emancipated when the district court confers upon
the minor the rights of majority, per Chapter 4 of Title 10 of the Oklahoma
Statutes.
(B) This provision does
not apply to foster children or children placed in the home by Developmental
Disabilities Services; or
(4) persons who live together and customarily
purchase and prepare meals together except per (c) of this
Section.
(c)
Elderly and disabled persons. An otherwise eligible household
member who is 60 years of age and older and is unable to purchase and prepare
meals because the member suffers from a disability considered permanent under
the Social Security Act, or a non-disease related, severe, permanent
disability, may be considered, together with the member's spouse, a separate
household from the rest of the household.
(1)
Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) workers must not grant separate household
status when the gross income of the others with whom the member and the
member's spouse live exceeds 165 percent of the federal poverty level, per
OKDHS Appendix C-3, Maximum Food Benefit Allotments and Standards for Income
and Deductions, Table III.
(2) When
it is not obvious a member suffers from a non-disease related, severe,
permanent disability or the member is unable to purchase and prepare meals, the
worker requests a physician's statement explaining the disability or inability
to purchase and prepare meals.
(3)
Refer to Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC)
340:50-5-4 to determine if a
person is disabled under the Social Security Act when the person does not
receive disability payments.
(d)
Periods of absence. No
person may participate as a part of a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) household unless the person returns to the home at least one day each
month and shares a meal with the household. This rule includes persons who are
away for extended periods during the month working, attending school, or
similar situations.
(1) A student who attends
a boarding school, including the state schools for the deaf and blind, is not
institutionalized when the student lives in the home on the weekend and
holidays.
(2) A child who lives
with a parent at least one day per month and eats with the household may be a
part of the parent's food benefit household as long as the child is not
included in another active food benefit household. In instances where both the
child's parents participate in SNAP during the same month, the parent who has
the child the majority of the time includes the child in that parent's SNAP
household. When the child lives in each parent's home the same amount of time,
the parent who adds the child to SNAP first includes the child.
(3) When a foster family elects not to
include a child in OKDHS custody per OAC
340:50-5-5 and the child is in a
trial reunification, the child's parent may claim the child as a part of the
household. To include the child, the trial reunification must occur at the
parent's home, and the child must share a meal with the
parent.
(e)
Persons
ineligible for SNAP food benefits. Persons who are ineligible to receive
SNAP food benefits as separate households or as a member of any household
include:
(1) certain non-household members,
per OAC 340:50-5-5;
(2) households or household members
participating in a food distribution program operated by Indian tribal
organizations, per OAC
340:50-5-7;
(3) residents of institutions, per OAC
340:50-5-7.1; and
(4) persons considered disqualified or
ineligible, per OAC
340:50-5-10.1.
Amended at 10 Ok Reg
2063, eff 5-27-93; Amended at 11 Ok Reg 4587, eff 9-1-94 (emergency); Amended
at 12 Ok Reg 1723, eff 6-12-95; Amended at 17 Ok Reg 473, eff 10-12-99
(preemptive); Amended at 26 Ok Reg 840, eff
6-1-09
