To establish that a household meets income eligibility requirements for benefits, reviewing officials must compare the household size and the total household income to the applicable Income Eligibility Guidelines.
Only complete applications can be approved for meal benefits. Applications missing required information must be denied if the missing information cannot be obtained. To be considered complete, an application must include the required information. The SFA should make reasonable efforts to contact the household to obtain or clarify required information. All contact with families regarding eligibility can and should be documented on the application.
A complete income application must provide:
- Names of all household members;
- Amount, source, and frequency of current income for each household member;
- Signature of an adult household member; and
- Last four digits of the social security number of the household’s primary wage earner or another adult household member, or an indication that the household member does not have one.
If an application lacks how frequently income is received (e.g., weekly, monthly, etc.), the reviewing official should make reasonable efforts to contact the household to clarify the frequency of income. If the SFA is unable to reach the family, the SFA will process the income as weekly.
*Note: Applications cannot be approved for temporary free or temporary reduced price benefits. There is no temporary eligibility.