The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued a reminder about policy for processing CalWORKs cases for victims and evacuees of state and/or federally declared disasters.

For disaster evacuees who apply for CalWORKs, if the applicant and the county make a good faith effort to obtain verification and are unable to do so, including identity, time on aid, and CalWORKs eligibility factors, the county must accept the evacuee’s statements signed under penalty of perjury in lieu of verification.  These families must comply with regular verification rules as soon as practicable.  Counties must inform families that they can get help from the county if they need help in getting verification.

When an evacuee applies for CalWORKs, counties must establish that the evacuee was living in a county designated as a federal disaster and/or state-declared emergency zone and ask if the evacuee or anyone else in their family is receiving CalWORKs from that county or another disaster county.

CalWORKs recipients may be eligible for nonrecurring special needs payments because of emergencies from the fires, such as damage to or loss of shelter or belongings. Nonrecurring special needs funds can be used to repair or replace clothing or household equipment, to provide assistance for damage to the home, or to pay for interim shelter when the AU’s home was destroyed or made uninhabitable or inaccessible. The maximum nonrecurring special needs payment is $600 for each individual incident.

Disaster assistance from federal, state or local government or disaster assistance organizations is excluded from consideration as income.

For CalWORKs applicants, diversion may be available to address their specific crisis or item of need. Applicants in an emergency should be evaluated for Immediate Need Payments.

A written statement from the applicant is sufficient to establish intent to establish residency in California and in the county of application for the foreseeable future. Receipt of benefits at an address outside of California for two months or longer is not apparent evidence of intent to reside outside of California when return to California is prevented by a disaster.

For income, it is expected that some evacuees will no longer have reasonably anticipated income because of the disaster. For property and resources, counties must consider the applicant’s ability to access, occupy or sell their property at the time of application because of the disaster.  Federal disaster and emergency assistance, and comparable state, local and private disaster assistance payments, are excluded from being considered either income or resources.

For families temporarily separated because of the disaster, a family member is considered temporary absent if they expect to reunite within one full calendar month. CalWORKs recipients can maintain a home in a different county than the county they are physically residing in if they intend to return to that home within four months.

Most evacuated families will not be able to participate in welfare-to-work activities. Counties should make a good cause determination for evacuated families for nonparticipation in welfare-to-work activities. Counties should also determine if an applicant needs barrier removal services such as mental health services or housing stabilization program services and provide these services as expeditiously as possible.

Counties must maintain the ability for families to apply for Homeless Assistance benefits during normal business hours.  Temporary Homeless Assistance must be issued or denied within the same working day as the request.  Permanent Homeless Assistance must be approved or denied within one business day.

Homeless Assistance can be issued in one lump sum payment for 16 days when homelessness is caused by a declared disaster.  Temporary and permanent Homeless Assistance is not limited to once every 12 months when the cause of homelessness is a disaster.  Counties may accept sworn statements of how homeless assistance money is spent, or counties can grant good cause for not providing paper verification such as motel receipts.  Homeless Assistance applications are not required to be made in person or to include a face-to-face interview.  Counties can complete the homeless assistance Statement of Facts on behalf of the family and accept electronic signature or oral attestation.

The CalWORKs Housing Support Program can provide interim housing, including hotels and motels, for disaster evacuees.  CDSS does not limit the number of days the Housing Support Program can cover hotels or motels.

Counties must notify CDSS when they will be closed during normal business hours.  CDSS asks counties to report closures because of a disaster to CDSS as soon as it is safe to do so.  (ACWDL, February 24, 2025.)

 

The CalWORKs and resource and vehicle limits have been waived because of the Los Angeles fires.  The CalWORKs aid in kind rule, which requires counting receipt of a full item of need as income, has also been waived because of the Los Angeles fires.  The waiver applies to designated zip codes and will be in effect until the state emergency declaration ends.  (ACWDL, February 19, 2025.)

The California Department of Social Services has issued guidance regarding Welfare-to-Work participation and the Los Angeles wildfires.  Los Angeles and Ventura Counties can implement county-wide blanket good cause to suspend welfare-to-work participation during the state of emergency.  Welfare-to-work participants may continue to voluntarily participate.  This blanket good cause does not stop the 60 month time on aid clock.

These counties should establish an end date for blanket good cause based on the time needed to reengage participants.  Blanket good cause cannot extend longer than the state of emergency.

After blanket good cause ends, counties should continue to grant good cause and exemptions on a case-by-case basis for participants who have health or economic issues because of the wildfires.

Wildfire victims may also be eligible for nonrecurring special needs payments, an exception to the once every 12 months limit on Homeless Assistance, and welfare-to-work exemptions.  Current recipients may also be eligible for the CalWORKs Housing Support Program.

Some wildfire evacuees may apply for CalWORKs outside of their home county.  Evacuees may not have documentation available.  If evidence does not exist, or the applicant and county make a good faith effort to obtain verification but are unsuccessful, the county must accept the applicant’s statement under penalty of perjury.

Families receiving CalWORKs through the recovery period must comply with regular verification rules as soon as possible. (ACWDL, January 28, 2025.)