States may establish their own standard utility allowances. The use of SUAs, including heating and cooling SUAs for households with heating and cooling expenses, simplifies the application process for both the applicant and the state agency. The primary objectives of this study were to conduct a review of available data to determine typical costs for internet access to develop a broadband standard utility allowance; and estimate new fiscal year 2022 HCSUA values for each state.
This study examines how the policies that determine benefit levels for the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program compare to current low-income spending patterns by analyzing the expenditures of low-income households across the United States in 2013 and 2014.
This report, the latest in a series of annual reports on WIC eligibility, presents 2014 national and state estimates of the number of people eligible for WIC benefits and the percent of the eligible population covered by the program, including estimates by participant category.
This study was designed to assess whether the elimination of the eligibility interview at certification and recertification would have adverse effects on client and worker outcomes. FNS awarded grants to two States—Oregon and Utah—to conduct demonstrations in which the eligibility interviews at certification and recertification were completely eliminated. An analysis of the demonstrations that provide estimates of the contributions of eligibility interviews in determining SNAP eligibility and benefits was conducted.
This report responds to the requirement of PL 110-246 to assess the effectiveness of state and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals. Direct certification is a process conducted by the states and by local educational agencies to certify eligible children for free meals without the need for household applications.
This report responds to PL 105-379, which mandated the USDA examine options for the design, development, implementation and operation of a national database to track participation in federal means-tested public assistance programs.
This report analyzes the findings from North Carolina’s Vehicle Exclusion Limit Demonstration, which excluded one vehicle per household, regardless of value, from the Food Stamp Program’s countable asset limit. Under current law, for most families, only the first $4,650 of the first vehicle’s value is excluded. Some have argued that because a reliable vehicle is often required to find and hold a job, the entire value of the first vehicle should be excluded.