#09-69-03

Bulletin

August 14, 2009

Minnesota Department of Human Services -- P.O. Box 64941 -- St. Paul, MN 55164-0941

OF INTEREST TO

• County Directors • County Income Maintenance Supervisors and Staff • Tribal Employment Services Directors and Staff

TANF Emergency Assistance (EA): Questions and Answers TOPIC TANF Emergency Assistance Funding. PURPOSE To provide clarifications and answer questions around the use of TANF EA funding.

ACTION/DUE DATE

Please review. Implement changes to emergency services plans, as appropriate.

EXPIRATION DATE

The policies in this bulletin expire on August 14, 2011.

CONTACT Any questions related to this bulletin should be directed to: Mayjoua Ly Phone: (651) 431-4030 E-mail: [email protected] SIGNED

CHARLES E. JOHNSON Assistant Commissioner Children and Family Services Administration

Bulletin #09-69-03 August 14, 2009 Page 2 Background The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 passed by Congress in February 2009 provided TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) emergency funds to states that experience increases in their expenditures for non-recurrent short-term benefits, subsidized work, or an increase in their public assistance caseload. After evaluating Minnesota’s situation, the Minnesota Department of Human Services determined that Minnesota will qualify for some of the federal stimulus funding including funding for emergency assistance (EA). In May, the Minnesota Legislature passed language authorizing the commissioner to request the funds from the Federal government. The Minnesota Legislature committed up to $25 million in stimulus funds in 2010 for growth in emergency services. In the email dated June 16, 2009, the department informed counties of the availability of the stimulus funds and encouraged counties to consider expanding the allowable services in the Emergency Services or Crisis plan to meet the needs of families. Since the information on the increased funding for Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) Emergency Services was released, numerous questions and concerns have come in from counties regarding the use of this funding. This bulletin addresses those concerns. Summary of questions submitted by counties regarding expansion of county emergency services1 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). 1. Is it permissible to have a community agency or employment services (ES) agency issue county emergency services payments? A county may contract with a community agency or ES provider to administer the county emergency services program. However, the emergency services payments must be made through the MAXIS system so department staff can track the spending for federal audit purposes. All of the spending must be attributed to eligible individuals for eligible purposes and the spending must occur within the quarter for which the funds are being claimed. The stimulus funds are subject to strict reporting and audit requirements and the spending must be tracked by quarter. Under the spending plan devised for the ARRA funds, counties don’t have to track the spending, it is done on the MAXIS system and once a county has met its base quarter spending any additional spending comes out of a single, unallocated fund at the department. The community agency or ES provider may determine eligibility and approve emergency services payments, but the county would need to issue the check via the MAXIS system. 2. Can a county report emergency services costs on the 2902 form?

1 Known in some counties as crisis assistance or emergency assistance.

Bulletin #09-69-03 August 14, 2009 Page 3 No, as stated above, the only way to track spending and activities for this program is through MAXIS. Using the 2902 for reporting doesn’t tie spending to a person, case, or date expended, and doesn’t provide any details on what the money was spent on for audit purposes. 3. Can emergency services funds be used for adults without children? No, TANF emergency assistance funds can’t be used for adults without children. The funds for county emergency services or crisis assistance programs are federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds. The TANF regulations specify that these funds are to be used to serve low-income families with a minor child, a pregnant woman, or a non-custodial parent of a minor child receiving assistance. The department does not have in place a process for identifying and serving eligible non-custodial parents at this time. Counties that are interested in serving non-custodial parents should contact Mayjoua Ly at [email protected],us by September 11, 2009. 4. Will the department give counties a ballpark estimate of how much extra money they will be getting? No, the department will not provide a ballpark estimate or an allocation to counties. The spread sheet provided in the email issued June 16, 2009 gave information on each county’s base year (FFY08) quarterly spending. All spending on county emergency services will be tracked. Once a county has met its quarterly spending target, any additional spending will come out of a single, unallocated fund at the department. The state has already earned some ARRA funds based on increases in spending on the Diversionary Work Program (DWP) and county emergency services in the first two quarters of federal fiscal year (FFY) 2009. If counties spend at least the target amounts in the remaining quarter of the FFY, the state will earn additional stimulus funds. The Minnesota Legislature committed up to $25 million in ARRA funds in 2010 for growth in county emergency services. The department will be monitoring county spending on a monthly basis and will work with counties to ensure that the statewide base year quarterly targets are met. Counties that are not spending as much on emergency services as they spent in same quarter of the base year will be contacted. Counties can get a real-time estimate of their emergency services spending on MAXIS (MONY INQF). In addition, a monthly status worksheet will be sent out the first week of each month from the department. 5. If a county meets the quarterly spending target 3 out of 4 quarters, would the county lose all 4 quarters of the extra funds or just the quarter it missed? Each quarter the state exceeds the base year emergency services spending totals, the state will be able to draw down 80% of the additional spending from the federal TANF program. Because the DWP is included in the totals, the department anticipates that we will be able to draw down enough federal funds to cover any additional county spending out of a single, unallocated fund at the department. If after a few quarters of experience the department determines that, as a whole,

Bulletin #09-69-03 August 14, 2009 Page 4 counties are not spending at the level necessary to sustain the expansion of the county emergency services programs, counties will be asked to decrease spending to the amount they originally budgeted for emergency services. Spending will be tracked on a quarterly basis so that counties will not lose funds retroactively. 6. Is TANF EA limited to a total of 4 months of benefits in a 12 month time period like DWP or Diversionary Assistance or could it be issued for shelter twice in a year for a total of 8 months? According to the federal regulations, emergency assistance is defined as: (1) Nonrecurrent, short-term benefits that: (i) are designed to deal with a specific crisis situation or episode of need; (ii) are not intended to meet recurrent or ongoing needs; and (iii) will not extend beyond four months. In determining whether to issue county emergency services funds for shelter more that once in a year, it is important to consider the various parts of the regulations. It would be difficult to make the case that county emergency services payments met the definition of nonrecurrent, short-term, if payments are issued to the same families, for the same reason, 8 out 12 months. TANF emergency assistance is also intended to deal with a specific crisis. If there was a new crisis, even if it occurred within 12 months, it might be appropriate to issue another 4 months worth of county emergency services payments. If the family’s situation had not changed this would not be a new crisis or something that could be considered nonrecurrent. The TANF regulations don’t address how much emergency assistance could be issued at a time so there is also some flexibility in the amount of the county emergency services payment issued per occurrence as long as the amounts of assistance address the emergency situation or episode of need. 7. What is a household for the purposes of determining emergency services income limits? For example, when determining the household size, would SSI parents or children be included? Yes, parents or children who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) would be included in the household. Eligibility for the MFIP Consolidated fund is not as restrictive as MFIP eligibility. A mother who receives SSI and her minor child would be considered a household of two for purposes of issuing emergency services payments. 8. Currently the MAXIS system is not programmed to allow MFIP emergency services payments to be issued more than once a year. Is MAXIS going to reprogrammed? No, the department is not planning to reprogram MAXIS, but instructions on how to handle these issuances in MAXIS are included below. Under the MFIP Consolidated Fund each county determines its own policy for issuing emergency services payments. Payments are issued through MAXIS, and counties should continue to use this mechanism for tracking and audit purposes. If counties choose to issue emergency services payments more than once every 12 months, the workers can use FIAT to issue the payments.

Bulletin #09-69-03 August 14, 2009 Page 5 MAXIS instructions: When an ELIG EMER EA version is generated in which the “12 month” Case Test is FAILED, the worker will need to go into each affected unit member’s Person Test and PASS the “12 month” Person Test. By doing this, the “12 month” Case Test will automatically change to PASSED. 9. Will counties be able to claim administrative costs for issuing emergency services funds? The department is still reviewing whether the state might qualify for federal match due to an increase in emergency services administrative costs. Initial analysis indicates that the state will not qualify because county administrative spending this year is less than in the base year. The department will continue to monitor spending in this area. 10. Can emergency services funding be used to pay health insurance premiums or co-pays? No. TANF regulations do not allow the use of the TANF funds for medical expenses. Insurance premiums and co-pays are considered medical expenses. 11. Can a family on the Work Benefit Program receive an emergency services payment? Yes, Work Benefit families are eligible for emergency services payments if the family’s income is under 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG). 12. If a county chooses to serve families up to 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, how is household income determined? County policy dictates how income is determined for the county emergency services program. Counties may use the MFIP deductions or a simple gross income test or any other reasonable method to determine eligibility. 13. The TANF emergency fund federal guidance includes a reconciliation process. What will happen when the reconciliation process occurs, if the state as a whole did not exceed the base quarter emergency needs spending for a particular quarters? Will future TANF funding be reduced? Will specific counties’ TANF funding be reduced by the amount they have been paid over their base spending? Or, would the reduced TANF funding be spread statewide even to those counties who have chosen not to participate in the enhanced program? The department has developed the guidelines outlined here to manage this risk. We know that forecasted growth in DWP will result in additional funding that will be available to cover some additional emergency services expenditures. In addition, the department is carefully monitoring county emergency services expenditures on a monthly basis and has found that spending for the

Bulletin #09-69-03 August 14, 2009 Page 6 month of June is well above the base year target. The department can make this information on statewide spending available. 14. If a county decides to open up the EA program as recommended, will the county be required to maintain this level of expenditures beyond when the ARRA funding is available? No. Counties can change their emergency services plans at any time. The department will notify the counties when the funding ends so that they can revise their policies to stay within available funding. 15. Can emergency services payments be used to hold a child care slot while the participant is on medical leave or some other type of leave? No. Holding a child care slot would not be considered addressing an emergency situation under the TANF program. The Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) has a provision for continuing to make child care payments when a parent is on medical leave and not able to take care of their child. Contact Elizabeth Roe at [email protected] for more information on the CCAP policy. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Advisory This information is available in alternative formats to individuals with disabilities by calling Aaron Coonce (651) 431-4049 (voice). TTY users can call through Minnesota Relay at (800) 627-3529. For Speech-to-Speech, call (877) 627-3848. For additional assistance with legal rights and protections for equal access to human services programs, contact your agency’s ADA coordinator.