Eligibility

Cash Assistance (CA) provides money to families who don't have enough to pay for basic needs like food, clothing, and rent.

CA defines a family as one or two parents living with their child or children under 18. If your child is 18 years old, they still qualify as long as they are in school full time and will be graduating before they are 19. A family could include biological kids, step kids, adopted kids, and children of relatives.

To determine whether or not you're eligible for CA, the state looks at your assets and your income. If your income and assets are low, you may qualify for CA.

The Asset Limit

Assets are things you own. They can include:

• Checking accounts
• Savings accounts
• Stocks
• Bonds

To qualify for Cash Assistance, your assets have to be worth less than $2,000.

Income Limits

Income is money you get from work, benefits, or other sources. There are limits on how much income you can have and still qualify for benefits, including TANF Cash Assistance.

The exact limits depend on your family situation. In Arizona, there are two income limits for TANF Cash Assistance, the Needy Family income test and the Cash Assistance Payment Standard test. Both limits look at your countable income. Countable income doesn't always include all of your income, so you may qualify for TANF Cash Assistance benefits even if you think your income is over the limits.

Your household income must be below both limits in order to get TANF Cash Assistance benefits.

How CA Counts Your Income

When counting your monthly income, Cash Assistance takes your gross income and subtracts:

• Some of your earned income
  • First, they subtract $90
  • Then, they subtract 30% of what’s left
• The money that (in order to be able to work) you spend on child care or or care for a household member with a disability
  • They subtract up to $200 per month that you spend on child care for each child you have who is under the age of two.
  • They subtract up to $175 per month that you spend on child care for each child who is two years old or older.
  • They subtract up to $175 per month that you spend on care for an adult with a disability.

That means that when they look to see if your income is higher than the income limit, they won’t count a lot of your income.

The exact calculation of how much of your income CA will actually count is very complicated and will depend on your particular situation.

Your Benefit Amount

If you qualify for Cash Assistance (CA), the amount you get each month will depend on complicated calculations. Your benefit amount will vary depending on:

• Your household size
• Whether or not you have income
• Whether your income is earned, unearned, or both
• Whether or not the household members are related
• Whether you are paying allowable shelter costs like rent, mortgage, or property taxes

The more income you have, the lower your CA benefit will be. The maximum benefit for a family of three is $347 per month if you earn no money at work.

For CA there is a difference between unearned income like SSDI and earned income, which is money you make for working. When you have earned income, they subtract $90 from your income before calculating your benefit amount. If your income is unearned, they don’t.

If you earn money at work, the CA program is designed so that your benefit never goes down by as much money as you make. That means that you’ll always be better off if you have a job.

Application

To apply for Cash Assistance (CA) you can:

• Apply online using Health-e-Arizona
• Download an application, fill it out, and submit it to your local DES/Family Assistance Administration office
• Get the application at your local DES/Family Assistance Administration officeand fill it out there

When you apply for CA, you can also choose to apply for Nutrition Assistance (formerly Food Stamps) or Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) health coverage without having to complete any additional application forms. If you need help completing an application, talk to a Work Incentive Consultant or you can call 1-855-777-8590.

After your Cash Assistance (CA) eligibility interview, you are mailed an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card and an eligibility notice telling you whether you qualify. The card generally arrives before the eligibility notice and you may be mailed a card even if you are not eligible for CA.

The eligibility notice tells you if you will get benefits and how much you’ll get. You then have to attend an orientation and participate in CA’s Jobs Program.

Cash Assistance Payments

If you qualify for Cash Assistance, you get monthly payments. You can choose to get your payments through:

1. An Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card, or
2. Direct deposit to a bank account.

In most cases, you can get Cash Assistance (CA) in Arizona for a maximum of 12 months. These 12 months can be one after the other (one year) or can be spread out over your lifetime. After that, you cannot qualify for benefits in Arizona. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. For example, some people with disabilities may be able to get benefits for more time.

Rules for Families with People with Disabilities

There are a few Cash Assistance rules that only apply to families with people with disabilities:

• If you have a disability you may not have to participate in the Jobs Program, but you do have to enroll and then be exempted by your employment counselor.
• Your Jobs Program might be different if you or someone you are caring for has a disability.
• You can’t be on both SSI and CA at the same time (but other members of your household could be eligible for CA while you are on SSI).
• If you have a disability or are taking care of someone with a disability, CA's 12-month time limit might be extended. You will have to make a hardship request; the extension is not automatic.

Finding a Job

In addition to cash benefits, Cash Assistance also helps you find a job. In fact, once you're enrolled in CA, you’re required to participate in the CA Jobs Program. The Jobs Program will help you with things like:

• Figuring out your employment goals
• Planning to reach those goals
• Learning new skills
• Keeping track of your progress
• Searching for a job

Reporting Your Income

Whenever your income or family situation changes you need to report those changes to the Cash Assistance program by the 10th day of the month after the change. The Family Assistance Administration maintains a detailed chart listing everything you need to report.

There are several different ways of reporting:

1. You can report online at MyFamilyBenefits.
2. You can call your local DES/Family Assistance Administration office and report over the phone.
3. You can call 1-855-432-7587 or 1-855-HEAplus and report over the phone.
4. You can download the Change Report form and submit it to your local DES/Family Assistance Administration office by mail, by fax, or in person.

Renewing your eligibility

Even if your income doesn’t change, you need to renew your eligibility regularly. Generally, you need to renew about every six months, though the exact dates may vary.

The Family Assistance Administration contacts you when it's time to renew, so be sure to report all changes (especially changes in your telephone number or address) so they can reach you when you need to renew.

For more help, contact your local DES/Family Assistance Administration office or talk to a Work Incentive Consultant.

Jason’s family was having a difficult time making ends meet. Up until a month ago, he could financially support his wife Sarah and daughter through his job as a cashier at a local grocery store. Then the grocery store laid some people off and Jason lost his job.

Jason and Sarah didn’t have much money in savings. They realized that they were going to have trouble paying for rent, food, and utilities. They decided to apply for help from the state of Arizona until they could get back on their feet. Jason went to his DES/Family Assistance Administration office and filled out an application for Cash Assistance (CA). Jason had a disability, so he also applied for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) at his local Social Security office. However, Social Security said that his disability didn’t meet their definition of disability because he could still work, so he didn’t qualify to get an SSI benefit.

The next week, Jason went back to his DES/Family Assistance Administration office for an eligibility interview for Cash Assistance. He brought all of his bank statements and proof of the things he owned. Six weeks later, Jason and his family were approved for CA. Since they didn’t have any income, they were approved for the maximum benefit for a family of three, $347 a month.

As part of the CA program, both Jason and Sarah met with an employment counselor to come up with a plan to get them jobs. Sarah needed just a few more classes to complete her training as an x-ray technician, but had put those plans on hold when they had their child. Her employment plan included finishing those credits and then searching for a job. Jason’s plan was a little different because of his disability. He thought that maybe he could work from home doing customer service over the phone. His employment plan included a one-week customer service training program and a job search as well.

Jason and Sarah had two concerns about working that they decided to ask their employment counselor about.

“Ok, so I’d love to go back to school,” Sarah said, “but what about my little girl? I can’t afford to pay someone to keep her.”

“You’re on Cash Assistance now,” responded the employment counselor, “you can get help paying for child care. Just ask your case worker about DES child care. They’ll tell you how to apply.”

“Excellent!” said Sarah. “That solves that problem.”

“But,” added Jason, “what about once one of starts working, won’t our benefits go down? Won’t we be even more broke then?”

“Not necessarily,” said the employment counselor, “that depends on a lot of factors. But remember that however much money you make, more than 30% of it is exempted from being counted as income. So you’ll still be eligible for benefits until you get back on track. Plus you’ll be making even more money than just being on Cash Assistance alone.”

Jason and Sarah left the meeting with the employment counselor feeling like things were looking up. With a little help, they’d be back on their feet soon enough.