Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

256 Amy E. Schwartz and Sharon Stapel
assistance. 2 While the program still provides financial assistance to needy
families in the form of grants for “food and other” (including utilities) and
“rental assistance,” federal funds for the program are now limited, immigrant
eligibility is significantly restricted, families are subject to a sixty-month
lifetime limit in the Family Assistance Program, and eligibility requirements are
tougher to meet. 3
In New York State, temporary assistance (TA) is administered by the Office
of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA). TA programs include both
Family Assistance (FA), which is designed for families that include a minor
child living with either a parent, two parents, or a caretaker relative, and Safety
Net Assistance (SNA), which is intended for individuals without children or
families with children who have reached their sixty month time limit. 4 FA and
SNA provide the same level of cash grants, but FA budgeting rules differ and
generally allow a working recipient to keep more of her cash or rental benefit
than the SNA program. Families with children may also be eligible for child
care benefits. 5 Medicaid and Food Stamps, while not addressed at length in this
article, are federal programs that are administered by the state welfare agency.
Families who are eligible for FA or SNA are generally also eligible for Food
Stamps and Medicaid. 6
State and federal statutes and regulations define social service district
obligations and applicant or recipient responsibilities. 7 Recipients can also
request fair hearings to challenge sanctions or an administrative determination
to reduce or deny benefits. 8
Public assistance grants are meager at best, as the below sample New York
City monthly grant award chart demonstrates. 9 The amount of public assistance
a recipient receives is determined by family size.
FAMILY SIZE
NON-SHELTER
(CASH)
RENT TOTAL
1 137.10 277.00 414.10
2 218.50 283.00 501.50
3 291.00 400.00 691.00
4 375.70 450.00 825.70
5 463.70 501.00 964.70
6 535.20 524.00 1059.20
7 607.70 546.00 1153.70
8 680.20 546.00 1226.20