SNAP will not treat a person 60 or older who cannot buy and cook meals because of a permanent disability as a separate household if the others’ income tops 165% of poverty
By Daniel Harper,
Older adults with a permanent disability who cannot buy or cook their own meals can be counted as a separate SNAP household only when the income of the people they live with is no more than 165% of the federal poverty line. If the others’ income tops that line, separate status cannot be granted. The condition appears in both federal regulation and the Food and Nutrition Act.
The rule applies to a person 60 or older who lives with others and cannot buy and prepare meals because of a disability. The regulation calls it a non disease-related, severe, permanent disability. When every condition is met, the person is treated, together with a spouse who lives there, as a household of their own.
Whose income counts toward the 165% line
The test, set out in 7 CFR 273.1, looks only at the other people in the home. The regulation excludes the income of the older person and his or her spouse, so that person’s own pension or Social Security check does not push the test over the line. Income of an adult child, a sibling or another adult in the same home does count.
That makes the others’ paychecks the deciding number. A woman who cannot cook or shop because of a permanent disability, and who lives with her daughter’s family, can apply as her own household only if the family’s income stays at or under the 165% line. Families in that position can ask the state SNAP agency to run the test before assuming one large household is required.
