State of Oregon
Children, Adults and Families
Human Services Building, E48
Salem, Oregon 97301-1066
Executive Letter:02-02
Date: March 15, 2002

TO: Holders of DHS Family Services Manual
SUBJECT: Treatment of SUA for Certain Ineligible Household Members in FS
EFFECTIVE DATE: April 1, 2002
CONTACT: Eliza Devlin at (503) 945-6092 or Anne Hilgers at (503) 945-6105
POLICY CHANGE:  

A change in federal policy ends the requirement to prorate the Standard Utility Allowance (SUA) when there is an ineligible person in the eligibility/filing group. Household members who are ineligible because they failed to provide an SSN or are ineligible noncitizens (coded NC1 on FSMIS) are affected by this change in policy.

Continue to prorate the SUA when there is more than one eligibility/filing group that contributes to the heating costs. Do not prorate the SUA among the eligible and ineligible eligibility/filing group members. Continue to prorate actual utility costs when they are not eligible for the SUA.

The following examples illustrate how the change should be applied:

Example #1:


Maria is an undocumented noncitizen. She and her child are sharing an apartment with a friend, Phyllis. They purchase and prepare meals separately from Phyllis. Maria pays half of the electric bill for heating. Since there are two eligibility/filing groups in the household and each group contributes to the heating costs, the SUA will be prorated. Code 1/2 of the SUA on the FS case for Maria’s child.

Example #2:


Raul, Julia and their two children share a home with his elderly parents. Raul works full time. Julia applies for food stamps for all six people in the household. Raul refuses to give us his SSN. Since Raul pays for the heating costs of the home, the household is eligible for the entire SUA.

Example #3:


Peter and his wife Marcia moved here from the Marshall Islands ten years ago. They have two children born in the U.S. Peter, Marcia and their children live in an apartment with central heating. Peter and his family do not have any out-of-pocket expenses for heating but incur other utility expenses – $28 for basic phone rate plus government fees and taxes. The total monthly cost for actual utility expenses is $28. Since Peter and his family do not incur heating costs, they are not eligible for the SUA. Because Peter and Marcia are not qualified and are coded as NC1's, their actual utility expenses must be prorated to $14 ($28 divided by 4 multiplied by 2).

BRANCH OFFICE ACTION REQUIRED:

Review policy changes with branch staff. Make all of the changes the earliest of the following: at client request, the next case action, the next certification or a recertification.

CENTRAL OFFICE SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES:

Incorporate these policy changes into the Family Services Manual in the Food Stamps and Noncitizens chapters for the July release and revise rule 461-160-0410.