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State of Wisconsin |
HISTORY |
The policy on this page is from a previous version of the handbook.
3.2.1.1 Joint or Shared Physical Custody of Children
3.2.1.2.2 Incarceration and Huber Law Prisoners
3.2.1.3.1 Shelters for the Homeless
3.2.1.3.2 Transitional Housing
3.2.1.5 Group Living Arrangement
3.2.1.5.1 Residential Care Apartment Complexes (RCAC)
3.2.1.5.2 Adult Family Home (AFH)
3.2.1.5.3 Drug and Alcohol Treatment Centers
3.2.1.5.4 Shelters for Victims of Domestic Violence
3.2.1.5.5 Section 202 and 236 Housing
7 CFR 273.3
Applicants for FoodShare benefits must reside in or be temporarily absent from Wisconsin.
Guidelines for determining residency (1.2.3.5 Wisconsin Residency Verification):
Residence does not mean the legal place of residence or principal home.
Residence does not mean the intent to live permanently in Wisconsin or the county.
A person who is in Wisconsin or in a county solely for vacation purposes is not a resident of the county.
Do not require someone to reside in Wisconsin or within a county for any minimum length of time.
Residence does not mean a permanent dwelling or a fixed mailing address.
7 CFR 273.1(b)(1)(iii)
Children are included in the food unit with their primary caretaker, with whom they reside.
There may be situations when the residence of a child is not easily determined. There are many methods that can be used to determine the child’s residence. If the residence of a child is questionable, court documents can be used to determine if there is a primary caretaker designated. It may be a situation of 50-50 joint custody. If one parent is not designated as primary caretaker, the parents can be asked to decide.
Individuals can only be included in one FoodShare assistance group, but may be included in more than one food unit.
If the parents cannot or will not decide, compare the parents' activities and responsibilities against the following list and determine which one is exercising more control than the other:
If the parents reside in different school districts, where does the child attend school? Who selected the school?
Who assists the child with homework or school-related tasks?
Are there tuition costs for the child's education? If so, who pays those costs?
If the child is enrolled in day care, who arranges for and pays these costs?
Who is responsible for taking the child to and from school and/or day care?
Which parent is listed as the contact for emergencies at the child's school or day care provider?
Who arranges medical and dental care for the child? Who selects the physician and dentist?
Who maintains the child's medical records?
Who initiates decisions regarding the child's future?
Who responds to medical or law enforcement emergencies involving the child?
Who spends money on food or clothing for the child when the child visits the absent parent?
Who disciplines the child?
Who plays with the child and arranges for entertainment?
Are more of the child's toys, clothing, etc. kept at one parent's home than the other's?
In which household do the children receive the majority of their meals? If a child is receiving 21 meals per week, determine how many meals the child receives at each household each week. The household where the child receives 11 or more meals a week is the household that would be eligible to receive FoodShare for the child.
Only one parent can receive FoodShare for a child. If you still cannot determine which food group the child should be in, the child should be included in the food group of the parent who first applied. Use the best information available to make your decision, and document in case comments the basis of your determination.
“Nesting” or “bird's nest” custody is a joint custody arrangement where the children remain in the family home and the parents take turns moving in and out of the family home into separate residences. In other words, the parents are “visiting” the children instead of the children visiting the parents. The parents share financial responsibility for the home and the children. As long as the nesting agreement is in place and being followed, both parents and children will remain as one food unit and assistance group.
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Example 1: Holly lives with her mother in Gleason. She attends school in her mother's district and her mother maintains a home for her. Her mother is the primary caregiver. Her father states Holly only visits him on the weekends. Her father is receiving FoodShare. Holly is considered as "residing" with her mother and would be included in her mother's food unit if she applied. Her father cannot include her in his food unit. |
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Example 2: Fran (mother) has legal custody of Clarence. However, Clarence resides with grandmother, and occasionally visits his mother. Clarence is considered "residing" with grandmother and would be included in grandmother's food unit if she applied. Clarence would not be included in his mother's food unit since he is residing with his grandmother. |
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Example 3: Mary and Rich have joint/shared custody of Ryan. Ryan spends days with Rich because Mary works days. Ryan spends nights with Mary because Rich works nights. However, Mary maintains a home for Ryan, he attends school in his mother's district, and she provides for most of his needs. Ryan is considered "residing" with Mary, and can receive FoodShare with her. Ryan would not be included in Rich's food unit since Ryan is residing with Mary. |
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Example 4: Pam and Paul have 50/50 shared custody of Emily. Neither is designated as primary caretaker. They do not agree on who exercises more control over Emily. They both have Emily for three and one half days per week. They live in the same school district, both are contacted in an emergency, etc. Paul comes in to the agency to apply for FoodShare first. Emily would be included in Paul's food unit. |
| Example 5: Trudy and John have a nesting agreement in place. Trudy is staying in the family home with the children Monday, Tuesday, every other Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. John is staying in the family home with the children Thursday, Friday, and every other Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. The household bills such as mortgage, utilities, and child care expenses are shared between Trudy and John. As long as this agreement is in place and being followed (even when the divorce is final), Trudy, John, and their children are all considered one food unit and assistance group. |
Include in the food unit an individual temporarily absent from the food unit when the expected absence is less than two full consecutive calendar months past the month of departure. Some examples are absence due to illness or hospitalization, employment, and visits.
To be considered temporarily absent, one must meet ALL of the following conditions:
The individual must have resided with the food unit immediately before the absence,
The individual intends to return to the home, and the food unit must maintain the home for him or her,
If the absent person is a child, the caregiver of the absent child is responsible for the child's care and control when the child returns to the home, and
If the absent person is an adult, the adult must still be responsible for care and control of the child during their absence.
Attending school - Persons temporarily absent to attend a school is not a reason to remain included in the food unit.
Hospitalized newborn - Infants who remain hospitalized for an extended period of time should be added to the food unit, even if the absence is greater than two consecutive months.
Nesting agreement - Parents temporarily absent due to a nesting agreement should be included in the food unit.
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Example 6: Karley resides with and receives FoodShare with her mother. On June 6, it is reported that Karley is going to stay with her father in Madison for the summer. She will be returning to her mother's home on August 15.
The month of departure is June. Since she is only absent for one full calendar month (July), she is not considered temporarily absent from her mother's household. She will not be out of the mother's home two full consecutive calendar months past the month of departure. |
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Example 7: Karley's mother reports Karley will be leaving on May 24 to spend the summer with her father. Karley is expected to return to her mother's residence on August 1.
Because Karley will be absent from her mother's home for two full consecutive calendar months (June and July), she would be considered absent from the home. Karley should be removed from her mother's food unit the next possible benefit month July 1, and added back to the food unit when she returns. Karley will be eligible for benefits the first full benefit month after she has been reported back in the home. |
Someone absent solely for full-time service in the military is not considered temporarily absent, and is not in the FoodShare assistance group. Income from this individual may be included in the FoodShare assistance group.
If military income is direct-deposited into an account jointly owned by the person in the military and a member of the FoodShare assistance group, it will be counted as unearned income, with the exception of combat pay. Military allotments paid to a spouse or dependent of the person in the military are budgeted as unearned income as long as the spouse or dependent is a member of the FoodShare assistance group. This includes cash sent directly from the person in the military to a FoodShare assistance group member.
Please see 4.3.4.3 Disregarded Unearned Income for the treatment of combat pay.
An individual who is incarcerated for more than 30 days is ineligible for FoodShare unless they meet all the Huber criteria listed below.
Huber law prisoners who are released from confinement for the purpose of caring for members of their family and who purchase and prepare meals with their family members can still be included in the food unit and may be eligible for FoodShare benefits. The prisoner must meet all financial and non-financial eligibility requirements.
A Huber Law prisoner is caring for his or her family if he or she meets all the following criteria:
A Huber law prisoner released under a bracelet monitoring program who continues to live in the home is eligible for FoodShare.
The temporary absence policy (3.2.1.2) time limit does not apply for Huber and those monitored under the bracelet program
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Example 8: A mother with three school age children has been sentenced to serve 90 days in a Huber facility. She is released at 8:00 A.M. to her place of employment and must report directly back to the Huber facility by 4:30 P.M. This mother is absent from the household and is not eligible for FoodShare benefits. |
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Example 9: A father applies for FoodShare for himself and his two school age children. He is sentenced to serve 90 days in a Huber facility. Under the terms of his sentence he is released each morning at 6:00 A.M. to report to his job; at 3:00 P.M. he is to leave his job and report to his home to care for his children, including fixing and eating dinner with them. He must report back to the Huber facility by 8:00 P.M. This father is temporarily absent from the FoodShare household and is eligible for FoodShare benefits. |
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Example 10: A father is on a bracelet monitoring program under the Huber program and living with his wife and child at home and working full time. Some of his wages are intercepted by the county jail to offset incarceration and monitoring costs. Treat as a FoodShare assistance group of three and budget the gross amount of his wages. |
7 CFR 271.2
A homeless individual is someone who lacks a fixed and regular nighttime residence or an individual whose primary nighttime residence is:
A supervised shelter designed to provide temporary accommodations (such as a welfare hotel or congregate shelter),
A halfway house or similar institution that provides temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized,
A temporary accommodation for not more than 90 days in the residence of another individual, or
A place not designed for, or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (a hallway, bus station, a lobby, or similar places)."
Note: A homeless youth is someone, other than a foster child who is under 18 years of age, is temporarily seeking accommodation in the residence of another individual other than his or her parent. A homeless youth under “parental control” must apply as part of the same food unit as the adult. A homeless youth under parental control is defined as someone who is financially or otherwise dependent on a member of the household, unless state law defines such a person as an adult.
While some homeless youth may fall under the parental control of a non-parent household member, other homeless youth may not. Anyone who, under FoodShare policy, is considered an individual living alone, should be afforded the opportunity to apply as a one-person household.
| Example 11: Jack is a 16 year old homeless youth who is working part-time and is not financially dependent on the adult with whom he is temporarily residing with. In this case, Jack can apply for FoodShare as a one-person household. |
Determine eligibility for a homeless shelter resident as if he or she is living independently (not residing in an institution or facility). Homeless shelters include transitional and temporary housing. An individual residing at a shelter for the homeless is homeless.
Transitional housing helps homeless people move to independent living in a reasonable amount of time. It includes housing designed to serve deinstitutionalized homeless individuals, homeless people with mental disabilities, and homeless families with children.
Temporary housing includes housing commonly known as a "rooming house".
The homeless person may use FoodShare benefits to purchase prepared meals from authorized shelters, some restaurants, and grocery stores.
A shelter authorized to accept FoodShare benefits may not also be the person's authorized representative.
7 CFR 273.1(b)(7)
An institution is any establishment that provides care and/or services above and beyond meals and lodging.
A resident of an institution is anyone who receives the majority of his or her meals as part of the institution's normal operations (greater than 50 percent of three meals daily).
Residents of institutions are ineligible for FoodShare.
Some facilities appear to be institutions but are not. Persons living in the following licensed or authorized facilities may be eligible for FoodShare:
Shelters for the homeless,
Group living arrangements,
Drug and alcohol addiction treatment centers,
Shelters for victims of domestic violence,
Section 202, 221(d)(3), and 236 housing, and all residents of any federally-subsidized housing for the elderly.
7 CFR 273.11(f)
A group living arrangement is a public or private nonprofit residential setting serving no more than 16 residents. It must be certified by the appropriate state or local agencies. An example may be a community-based residential facility.
Any blind or disabled [3.8.1 Elderly, Blind, or Disabled (EBD) Individuals] resident of a group living arrangement may be eligible for FoodShare.
The resident may purchase meals from the group living arrangement when FNS authorizes the facility to accept and redeem FoodShare (2.1.3.3 Use of an Authorized Representative).
Determine the resident's eligibility as a one-person food unit (3.3.1 Food Unit/FoodShare Assistance Group/Relationships) when the facility applies as an authorized representative. If the resident applies on his or her own behalf, determine the group size according to food unit rules.
Residents of a group living arrangement who move out before the 16th of the month should have half of their FoodShare allotment for the month returned by the authorized representative.
An RCAC is a place where five or more adults reside that consists of independent apartments, each of which has an individual lockable entrance and exit, a kitchen, including a stove, an individual bathroom, sleeping, and living areas. Residents of RCAC facilities that offer optional meal services, separately from the cost of care can be treated as single apartment dwelling residents and be non-financially eligible for FoodShare.
Residents of these facilities that do not have these services separate from the cost of care may be eligible if the resident meets the eligibility criteria for a group living arrangement (3.2.1.5). Residents are ineligible for FoodShare if they choose a meal plan provided by the facility that provides a majority, more than 50%, of their daily meals.
Every tenant has a signed “Service Agreement” with the RCAC provider which lists the services the tenant is to receive from the facility (including meals) and the fees charged for those services. Charges for meals should be separately identified in this agreement. Both the resident and the facility have copies of the service agreement (contract). However, most RCAC’s do not have a separate lease for individual tenants.
The name and address of the facility on the service agreement can also be used to verify that the residence is an RCAC by checking against DHS' Residential Care Apartment Complex Directory.
The IM worker must determine and verify the meal situation for each RCAC resident who requests FoodShare.
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Example 12: Maria lives in an RCAC. Her service agreement shows she has no meals included in her cost of care, but she does have the option to select from various meal plans. She has opted to prepare all of her meals herself and not purchase any meal plan from the RCAC. She would be non-financially eligible for FoodShare. The CWW Current Demographics page would be coded as 01. |
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Example 13: John also lives in the same RCAC. He has opted to purchase one of the dinner meal plans from the RCAC. Because the meal plan is purchased separately from his cost of care and the plan provides less than 50% of his daily meals, he would also be non-financially eligible for FoodShare. The CWW Current Demographics page would be coded as 01. |
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Example 14: Francis lives in an RCAC that does not offer the option to buy meal plans separately from the cost of care. Her meals are included in the monthly cost of care. She does not meet the non-financial eligibility criteria for FoodShare unless she is blind or disabled. |
An AFH is a type of group living arrangement where care and maintenance above the level of room and board, but not including nursing care, are provided in a private residence by the care provider whose primary domicile is this residence. The residence may have three or four adults, or more adults if all of the adults are siblings, each of whom has a developmental disability.
The individual in an AFH who is receiving foster care or paying board may be in their own FoodShare assistance group.
7 CFR 273.11(e) and (f)(6)
Private, nonprofit centers providing treatment for drug and alcohol addiction are not institutions.
Publicly operated mental health centers certified as drug and alcohol addiction treatment and rehabilitation programs are not institutions. Department of Health Services, Division of Quality Assurance, Bureau of Health Services certifies these facilities. State certification of these centers should not be confused with state licensing of drug and alcohol treatment centers. Such licensing is not required for FoodShare eligibility.
For residents of a drug and alcohol treatment center to be certified to receive FoodShare the center must be:
Authorized as a retailer by FNS.
To determine which substance abuse and mental health centers are listed as Title XIX, see the list of facilities for substance abuse and for mental health.
An authorized representative must apply for these residents (see 2.1.3.3 Use of an Authorized Representative). The center employs and appoints the authorized representative. The center may choose a representative to be the FoodShare payee or an authorized buyer. He or she will receive a Wisconsin QUEST card to access FoodShare benefits on behalf of the resident. The center may also choose the resident to be the sole QUEST cardholder as the primary person of the case. The QUEST cardholder may purchase food for meals, or meals prepared or served by the center, or both.
Determine the eligibility of a resident of a drug and alcohol addiction treatment center as a one-person FoodShare assistance group, unless the resident is a parent whose child(ren) resides with them at the center. Include any child(ren) residing with their parent(s) at the center, whether or not the center provides the majority of the child(ren)'s meals, when determining eligibility.
Note: Faith-based treatment and rehabilitation facilities are not required by law or FNS regulation to allow residents to opt-out of religious programming or activities in order to participate in the FoodShare program.
7 CFR 273.11(g)
A shelter for victims of domestic violence is a public or private nonprofit residential facility serving this population.
Shelters for victims of domestic violence may act as the authorized representative for FoodShare applicants and members. Document the basis that the facility is eligible to participate. Any shelter for victims of domestic violence authorized by FNS to redeem FoodShare benefits at wholesale stores is eligible.
A shelter resident may be a member of an eligible FoodShare assistance group before entering the shelter. Although in most cases an individual may not be a member of two FoodShare assistance groups in the same month, a resident of a shelter for victims of domestic violence may be eligible for dual benefits as a separate FoodShare assistance group while living at the shelter. This occurs when the earlier food unit contains the person who allegedly abused the resident.
They are food units separate from:
Residents of shelters for victims of domestic violence should have financial eligibility determined solely on the basis of the income and expenses of the individuals in the food unit now residing in the shelter, and they may count shelter room payments as shelter expenses.
Review the former FoodShare assistance group's eligibility and allotment. Re-test the former group and include the change in FoodShare assistance group composition.
Exempt residents of any federally subsidized housing for the elderly and disabled from the "residents of institutions" policy.
HUD funds some housing units primarily for the aged and disabled. This housing is called Section 202, Section 221(d)(3), and Section 236 housing. These housing units provide meals if the resident cannot get them without help.
Residents of 202/236 housing may still be eligible for FoodShare benefits. If you are unsure if a residence is an institution or 202/236 housing, contact the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority at 608-266-7884 to verify.
This page last updated in Release Number: 18-04
Release Date: 11/05/2018
Effective Date: 11/05/2018
Notice: The content within this manual is the sole responsibility of the State of Wisconsin's Department of Health Services (DHS). This site will link to sites outside of DHS where appropriate. DHS is in no way responsible for the content of sites outside of DHS.
Publication Number: P-16001