The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has clarification regarding mandatory inclusion rules for determining the CalWORKs Assistance Unit (AU).  Mandatory inclusion means that a parent, sibling or half-sibling be included in the filing unit, that is the group of people that must be included in the CalWORKs application.  Optional persons must also be included in the statement of facts when aid is requested for them and they are living in the home of the applicant child.

Mandatory inclusion also means that an eligible parent, sibling or half-sibling must be included in the AU with applicant or eligible child.  A CalWORKs eligible child must be both deprived and needy, meaning the child meets both linking and non-linking eligibility factors.  Linking factors are single conditions that link an applicant to eligibility.  The linking factors for CalWORKs are blindness and deprivation of parental care or support.  Non-linking eligibility factors establish whether an individual is entitled to assistance.  The non-linking factors for CalWORKs are age, property, residence, financial status and institutional status.

In practice, this means that a sibling or half-sibling of the applicant or eligible child who is not eligible for CalWORKs because of their income is not mandatory included in the CalWORKs AU.  CDSS provides several examples to illustrate this.

Circumstances may change over time and this may result in a different AU composition mid-period, at semi-annual reporting or at annual redetermination.  When the AU reports income over the Income Reporting Threshold in any month except the last month of the payment period, the county must determine if the reported income is reasonably anticipated to continue.  If it is, the CalWORKs grant is recalculated based on the AU’s new income and the grant is lowered or terminated accordingly.  If the income reported is not reasonably anticipated to continue, the report will not affect ongoing benefits for the payment period.

When income over the Income Reporting Threshold is reported in the last month of the payment period and is reasonably anticipated to continue, the county uses that information to determine eligibility and grant amount for the next payment period.  If the new income will make the AU ineligible, the county must determine if eligibility exists for any members of the current AU and if so change the AU composition accordingly.  (ACIN I-03-20, January 16, 2020.)

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued guidance regarding changes to the CalWORKs Homeless Assistance program.  16 days of temporary homeless assistance no longer needs to be used consecutively.  Families will be able to receive 16 days of Homeless Assistance cumulative in a 12-month period.  The 16 days of temporary Homeless Assistance will not be exhausted until all 16 days are used, the family resolves their homelessness or 12 months have passed.  The first three days of temporary homeless assistance must still be issued the day the family applies, followed by weekly issuances not to exceed 16 days.

However, this change will be not be effective until it is automated.  CDSS estimates that will take six to nine months.  Counties are encouraged to implement this change using a manual workaround as soon as possible.  CDSS will release the official implementation date later.

Families must still provide receipts verifying temporary Homeless Assistance was spent on shelter.  Counties are encouraged to offer good cause or accept a sworn statement when benefits are not received consecutively and families have not kept their receipts.  Counties are also encouraged to grant good cause or accept a sworn statement of permanent housing search when they do not have proof of their search.

Removal of the consecutive day requirement also applies to Homeless Assistance for persons fleeing domestic violence.  However, those benefits will still be issued in 16 day increments.

Effective January 1, 2020, families will no longer be required to use Homeless Assistance to rent from a person in the business of renting properties.  Families now can use Homeless Assistance to rent from any person or establishment with whom the family executes a valid lease, sublease or shared housing agreement.  This change also allows temporary Homeless Assistance to enter into a short-term lease, sublet or sharing housing arrangement to meet temporary housing needs.  (ACL 19-118, January 2, 2020.)

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued guidance regarding time on aid for CalWORKs Family Reunification cases that receive temporary homeless assistance benefits.

Effective January 1, 2018, CalWORKs families receiving Family Reunification services are eligible for temporary homeless assistance if the county determines these benefits are necessary for reunification to occur.  Previously, these families could only receive supportive services.  These families are not eligible for a CalWORKs grant.

CDSS states that homeless assistance benefits are considered special need payments and special needs payments count as receipt of aid towards the recipients CalWORKs 48-month time on aid limit.  Homeless Assistance does not tick the Federal Temporary Aid to Needy Families time on aid clock because federal regulations consider homeless assistance to be non-recurring short-term benefits, not assistance.  (ACL 19-112, December 12, 2019.)

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued guidance about the Cal-OAR California Continuous Quality Improvement (Cal-CQI) process.  Cal-OAR establishes a local data-driven management system to facilitate improvement to county CalWORKs programs.  The Cal-CQI occurs in three-year cycles using data gathered from Cal-OAR.  During each three-year cycle, counties must conduct a self-assessment, develop a system improvement plan, implement and evaluate strategies for improvement and report progress.

Each county must conduct a self-assessment to 1) comprehensively evaluate services, program implementation, and outcomes; 2) identify strengths and challenges of current program practices and 3) describe how local operational decisions and systemic factors affect outcomes.  Counties are required to work with local stakeholders in the Cal-OAR process.  Counties must also have a peer review component.  Based on this information, counties develop a plan for improvement in which they select a measure or set of measures for focused improvement and develop strategies to improve performance on the chosen measures.

When the self improvement plan is approved by the Board of Supervisors and CDSS, the county will work to implement its improvement strategies.  Counties must do a progress report on implementation progress of the self improvement plan.

CDSS will provide training on the Cal-OAR process in a variety of formats.  (ACL 19-108, November 27, 2019.)