How to SNAP: Rent Rules

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Art: Robin Mead

TODAY’S UPDATES 

🧡 We’ve now managed to find grocery delivery that accepts food stamps in at least some areas of nearly every state except Alaska, Alabama, and Hawaii. How to Get Groceries Delivered with SNAP/EBT

🧡 If you are disabled or lost your income and running out of food by the end of the month: How to Get Enough Food Stamps to Actually Eat

🧡 For anyone who is homebound or sheltering in place: Food. Rent. Internet. Unemployment. Paid Leave. Student Loans. Grocery Delivery. Love. Bills. Online Doctors. What to Do During School Closings. Read All of Today’s Updates

SNAP RENT RULES

Your rent or mortgage can have a significant impact on your food stamps. The food stamps formula is complicated, so this does not apply to everyone. However, in many cases, the higher your housing costs are, the higher your food stamps are. This is how the rent rules work:

🍎 Jim Pays For Stuff – Jim lives in his mom’s basement. He does not pay rent. Instead he pays for the phone bill, internet, repairs to the home, appliances, food, and car insurance. Jim applies for food stamps and qualifies for $0 per month

🍎 Jim Pays for Rent – Jim lives in his mom’s basement and pays rent to his mom each month by check. Jim applies for food stamps and qualifies for $100 per month.

Free Rent

If you are receiving free rent or utilities, your food stamps will be lowered. According to Mass Legal Help, if you pay any amount, even a small amount, this will change.

Example from Mass Legal Help: “Carol and her child live rent-free with Carol’s mother. Because Carol does not pay rent or utilities, SNAP counts $126.30 per month as income to Carol. Carol can avoid having the free rent and utilities counted by paying her mother a small amount each month for rent and utilities (for example, $10)”

Taxes & Income to Home Owner

If you are paying someone rent, the IRS may consider that person to have income. This should be reported to the IRS, or any other agencies where your landlord needs to report income. Here are two ideas that can assist:

🍎 According to IRS regulations, the homeowner would now be considered a landlord and would be able to deduct certain things as business expenses. In this way, there might not be any profit or income that counts.

🍎 From Mass Legal Help, a nonprofit legal organization: “If Carol’s mother is on benefits, Carol can pay the rent money directly to the mortgage and utility companies so that the payments will not count against her mother’s benefits”

Utilities

Paying any amount of utilities, even ten dollars, can also have a big impact on food stamps in some states. SNAP Utilities Rules

Next Steps

If you have a change in your income, savings, rent, utilities, medical expenses, or household, always notify your food stamps caseworker.

If you would like to request that your food stamps be reassessed based on changes, you can request this at any time.

Some of our readers report that they found it easier to report changes and communicate with their caseworker by email. This has the added advantage of creating a written record of changes you report. You can ask your caseworker if she has an email where you can reach her.

If you are asked to go to an in-person meeting and you cannot attend due to your disability, you can request an accommodation to do the meeting by phone or mail.

If you think your food stamps were not processed correctly, here’s some ideas for next steps.

There are a bunch more food stamps rules and regs it may really help you to know: How to Get Enough Food Stamps to Actually Eat

Please comment below with stories, ideas, questions or suggestions. Please let us know if any links on this page stop working.

85 thoughts on “How to SNAP: Rent Rules”

  1. I am currently receiving SNAP. I just moved out of my apartment last month to help my elderly parents . I would say I am a caretaker for them. I live in NJ and had to go to Florida that my mother will be undergoing a serious back surgery and had to admit my father in a home for dementia. With that I will be moving into their home in NJ that will now permanently be staying in Florida. My temporary move to their home is for me to help them financially to cover my dads fee for the living in a home.
    I will be paying my mother rent for living there.
    I am due to expire in July for my snap benefits which I have to reapply with another interview to see if I can be extended.
    If I will be paying my mother does this qualify the same when I was renting my apartment? I am due to lose my unemployment the following month so between that and losing snap I am getting very nervous how I will be able to live and eat.
    Please advise any steps

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  2. My daughter has terminal cancer and she has a toddler. She cannot work and has no income. So I have rented her an apartment until we can convert our garage into a living unit for her. She is on the lease and so am I (even though I do not live there). How should she specify her living arrangement when applying for benefits? She has no income since she cannot work, so I’m not sure how they expect her to be paying for rent. Should she say that her mother pays her rent for her? Should I get the landlord to remove my name from the lease for this purpose?

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  3. I needed a co applicant when applying to rent for my place now. Job and family services wants a copy of my lease. My child’s father is also on the lease but DOES NOT live there. Doesn’t have a key. And doesn’t pay child support let alone any rent or utilities. Will this affect our SNAP benefits, him just bring on the lease but not living there?

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  4. i am homeless and my friend and i were given a free hotel stay for 14 days and the room is both of our names and my friend is going to leave DO I HAVE TO LEAVE TOO? OR CAN I STAY AND USE THE REST OF MY TIME ON THE VOUCHER? I AM SCARED PLEASE CAN SOMEONE TELL ME MY RIGHTS??? I DO NOT WANT OT LEAVE! THANK YOU

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  7. I’m 28 years old and moved back into my mothers house. I pay her rent and I also pay for my own food and anything else I need. So basically I still completely support myself. Unfortunately I just lost my job….When applying for food stamps and cash assistance, do I put her on the application as another member (and head) of the household? I’m worried that her income will affect my chances of getting approved for food stamps and assistance even though I pay for myself completely.

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  8. I’m 28, recently got approved for SSDI but, that doesn’t start until the end of april. My mother is gracious enough to allow me to live with her rent free. We attempted to apply for SNAP but because it was in her name it was denied even though I’m supposed to support myself for everything besides rent. When, going about the new application in my name do I still have to put anything about her in my application about the household members or can I simply leave her out all together?

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  9. I am planning to move out of parents with my partner and daughter and my rent of my new apartment is $1500 and I make $690 SSD while my partner doesn’t work. What would happen?

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  10. I’m currently a student living away from my parents/hometown. I rent an apartment in the same state, though. I’m wondering which address I should put on my application, since my driver’s license says something different? I don’t really want my parents to know I am applying for SNAP because they find it shameful but it’s none of their business anyway.

    Also, I have absolutely no clue what sort of “vendor” my landlord has for electricity and heating (because it’s included in the rent) or his account number for them, which is required to know for the application. What should I do about that?

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    1. I’m not sure about the vendor part…. that’s usually if you want utility assistance…. will it let you apply for just snap and not utility assistance? Or can you leave that part blank?

      For address, perhaps contact your SNAP office and ask? My guess is you put down whatever is your legal primary residence.

      If you live with your parents, you may or may not have to include them as part of your SNAP household. It depends on your age and living arrangements: https://howtogeton.wordpress.com/snap-household-rules-food-stamps-ebt/

      Hope this helps.

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  11. i live in a room rental 1 of the other roomates applied for cal-fresh i do not share food with them and i frankly dont want my name on anything if im not applying for it if the other roomate gave my name do they run it through IEVS or whatever? i get SSDI and medi-cal but am too high for food stamps so i dont want any hassles because the other roomate might have provided my name they claim they didnt but i dont trust them

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      1. Hello, do you know if I will be eligible to get approve for food stamps, my sister pays me $125 every week to watch her daughter, and I pay $250 of rent and 50$ of water and $25 of rent including my $60 phone bill, I have a 1 year old son , and it’s very hard bc I can barley afford food sometimes.

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  12. I have a question
    I’m collecting SNAP.
    I asked my worker if it’s ok if I can stay with my kids dad cause we have no place to go so instead of paying me child support he said I can stay with him and he’ll buy what our kids need, and I’ll give you money for buy what you need and gas. My worker said that’s fine. So when I went to redo my 6mth report the worker is telling me that I need to add him on my case cause he’s my kids father. My question is why do I need to add him on my case where not together I buy our own food I stay in a separate room. And if I have to add him to my case is his income gonna effect my SNAP benefits…

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        2. Yes it will affect your benefits they will have to add his income to your case. Since you are living with him now you have to add him as a house hold member

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  13. Will I still be eligible for foodstamps if I move?
    For the past 2 years I’ve been paying 500 rent and 100 utilities and making about 700 a month. I always qualified for the maximum allotment.
    My apartment was robbed last month and the people who robbed me have been harassing me and I can’t prove anything legally to get them arrested so I had to move.
    I was able to pick up more hours and with my cash tips I’ll be able to scrape together enough to pay 910 with all utilities included to be somewhere safe. The problem is I’m struggling more than ever and with a net income of like $960 there seems to be a huge risk that I’ll lose my benefits.

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    1. I’m very sorry to hear this.

      I can’t say exactly how things would change. Rent going up could make food stamps go up. Income going up could make food stamps go down. In some situations, having utilities included in the rent will make food stamps go down 😦

      I wonder if your food stamps worker would be willing to run the numbers for you if you made an appointment? The formula is really complex and different in every state.

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  14. Hi
    I am paying rent and I have the Med-Cal benefits,but the landlord doesn’t allow me to use his address where hi is renting me because he says is receiving Med-Cal too.How this will affect him on his Med-Cal benefits?

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    1. Maybe he is not reporting the rental income?

      You are not responsible for what your landlord does in his life, but if you are on snap or other benefits, it is better for you if you can have some kind of written lease or landlord’s letter confirming where you live and receipt of paying monthly rent.

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        1. If she is on a shared food stamps account with her dad, it’s fine to share the stamps. If it’s her own separate account, she should not be sharing her food stamps with anyone else.

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    2. p.s. are you renting a room or an apartment? If you are renting a room in someone’s house, it’s possible that your landlord is just confused and thinks he is supposed to add you to his medi-cal case because you live together, which would not be true.

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    3. Hello,
      I read that having a rent that is too low can affect my SNAP negatively. But how low is too low? I can’t find any information about this.

      I live in Texas

      Thank you for this great website!

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      1. Hi Shadee,

        It’s a complicated formula and varies a bit by state, so I can’t answer that.

        Basically, sometimes someone has their SNAP increase because their rent is too high for their income.

        If your rent isn’t too high, you don’t get that extra increase. There is a link to the basic federal formula somewhere on this page: https://howtogeton.wordpress.com/2017/01/26/how-to-get-enough-food-stamps-to-actually-eat/

        Also, in some states, SNAP is significantly higher if you pay your utilities separate from rent (even if the total is the same amount of money). Oddly.

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  15. My question is we currently live in TX. My mother-in-law moved into her son house. She pays him $350 a month for a room and food is not included. On the front of the application it clearly states under the residency section landlords have to be non-relative(not family members). By law is she allowed to be giving her son rent money? I already called the local office.

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    1. Thank you for posting this question. I have never heard of a rule like this for SNAP. Sometimes housing assistance programs have rules for renting from relatives. Was this a SNAP application?

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  16. hello, i have to reapply for benefits this month. me and my boyfriend are not working and have 2 kids. We still pay rent because we put our whole tax return and unemployment benefits towards our rent in advance so we are all caught up and don’t have to worry. However, on the form it asks if anyone helps out with bills. My mom occasionally helps us out with electric and phone. Will this affect our food stamps?

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    1. I had a woman and her child sign a rental agreement and send it off to DS State of Arizona to collect food stamps she promised to pay $250 a month in rent we both sign the rental agreement and it was sent to d e s I received a phone call from des to verify that we both sign the rental agreement and that she was going to pay me $250 rent after a year she still hadn’t gotten a job I was promising to pay well I was at work she stole most of my stuff I had in storage got a job and rented her own place how do I get DS to help me recoup this money for the rent is this not fraud she never paid me a dime in rent I had to pay for her utilities which is left me in debt and ruin my credit is there anything I can do and and why can I not get DS to

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      1. I’m sorry this happened.

        DS is not going to help you collect unpaid rent. You could report her to DS and they might decide to ask her for some of the food stamp money back, but that won’t help you.

        I don’t know anything about debt collection, but if you still have a signed copy of the lease, you might be able to take her to small claims court for unpaid rent and utilities? If she stole belongings, that might be something to report to the police? For other damages, I do not know the answer, except to perhaps try contacting a lawyer to see if they think you have any kind of lawsuit case.

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  17. We are a family of 5 that just started receiving food stamps. We had reported our rent amount and that we had just lost our income. Right after we were approved we moved in with my father-in-law’s house. He’s not charging us anything for now, but once we can, he would like us to help out with the bills. Our current state is no income – no rent, but we were approved and in the amount based on paying rent and no income. Will that change the amount that we receive? Should we say that we are paying $300 for now because eventually we will be? I also don’t want to make my father-in-law a landlord and give him the hassle on his taxes.

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    2. Sorry I do not know the answer to whether this would change your food stamps, you would need to check with your worker. If your income is zero dollars, you will likely still be eligible for the full amount, But the rules are slightly different in each state.

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  18. Hello so my friend asked me a question I did not know how to answer, she needs to do recertification for SNAP benefits but her baby’s dad is on the lease Still even tho he doesn’t live with her anymore he doesn’t want to go sign anything at the office to get off the lease. She does live in a low income apartment ,so will they check her lease to see Who “lives” their ? Or will they contact an agency who has information on who is on the lease?

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    1. Hi Audri,

      I’m sorry I don’t know the answer to this. Every area us different, so I don’t know if her area will request a lease. Either way, it would be helpful if it were possible to have some kind of written proof that he does not live there anymore, in case any issues come up. Perhaps proof of his current address if possible.

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      1. I am on an apartment lease in one state, but have moved to another state for a family emergency without breaking my lease. Will I still be able to apply for food stamps in the new state I moved to if I’m still on that old lease?

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        1. You need to talk to your food stamps worker to be sure. I believe that as long as you have taken steps To establish residency in the new state, and you are no longer receiving food stamps in the old state, they should approve the application. If you share food with your family, you will need to all apply on one application if you live together. If your food is kept separately, you can apply on your own.

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  19. Can I do services like babysitting or cleaning in exchange for paying cash to the person that owns my home? If so, since there is no cash money exchanged,, does she have to report it in taxes?

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  20. I have 3 kids my husband moved out. And I want to apply for food stamps here in NYC BUT the lease is in his name. Will this be a problem? And would it be mandatory to put him on child support even if we have a verbal agreement that he gives me funds weekly for the kids.

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    1. Hi Cilla,

      I don’t know how they will handle the lease. It’s possible they will ask for proof that he has a new address.

      I also do not know the answer about child support. As long as you report the money he is giving you, I am guessing that a court-ordered child support agreement wouldn’t be required. The funds he gives you would be considered child support, so they may affect the amount of food stamps.

      I hope it goes great for you.

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  21. My sisters kids do not live with her but she insists they go to the school district she lives in. If she’s still reporting the kids, and, she is, if they change school district she will lose the benefits they aren’t even getting correct?

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    1. Hi Lindsay,

      I don’t totally understand your post. If your sister’s kids do not live with her, she should not include them on her food stamps account.

      They can still get food stamps, but they should be added to the account for the household where they do live.

      Sorry, I do not know if school districts are taken into account.

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  22. Hi! My husband and I have been receiving ebt due to both of us being laid off. We are now separating and I will be moving into a new apt. My rent will still be the same as claimed before, $1450 (CA) and I am still not working because I am going to school part time. My “husband” will be paying our rent (3 kids) although he will not be living with us, itll be his way of supporting us. I do receive $439 in child support for my eldest, and pay 200 from the child support to a sitter so I can attend night classes, will my benefits be cut off?
    Thank you ❤

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    1. Hi Lynn, the snap rules are complicated and a little different in every state, so I can’t answer this question. There is some info above from mass legal help which you might find helpful for your situation. Hope this helps.

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  23. I have lots of questions about my disability case. I have epilepsy and have gone thru appeal after appeal. Actually this one that I’m in is my 3rd appeal. I just have lots of questions about it if we could talk in private. If not that’s ok to. Like I said there’s lots of things I’d rather not put on social media. Lol thanks

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  24. No. She just told them they were living with us temporarily until they can save money and find their own place. Actually my husband and I are about to be moving in with my aunt who’s real sick and she needs my help. So we’ve decided to let my daughter and son in law and 3 grand babies just stay in our house. So they will be paying rent. Prob not a lot. But will be paying all the utilities. Only thing is they are all in my name bc it is my house so I’d rather them stay that way if possible. My daughter is 20 and son in law is 22 with 3 babies under the age of 2. The oldest is my step grand baby but she’s mine ya know. Her mother claims her on her taxes though so they can’t use her on their food stamp stuff. Point is they need their food stamps so incredibly bad. He works and she stays home with the kids and things are really tough for them and I just want things to be great for them and it seems like try and try and hit a bump every single time

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    1. I am glad you are there to help your daughter.

      Temporary wouldn’t matter – they go based on who you share food with. If she shares food with you, then your income and savings would be included in her food stamps case.

      If rent is the only problem, you should be able to fix that by showing a simple lease and/or proof she is paying her rent and utilities. I hope it goes well for your family.

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      1. Thank you so much. It’s been a bumpy ride for all of us. I love talking to you. Do you have an email or a number that we could talk in private? You seem to know a lot about a lot of things but I know all this is public. I’m very Leary about putting my business online. I have so much to say but no one to talk to really. Lol.

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  25. My daughter got cut off her food stamps bc her and her husband are temporarily staying with us until they can find a place. She has 2 kids. We make them pay is rent which is $200 a month plus half the electricity and water bill. If I write a letter stating they pay us rent and half the utilities will they be able to get their food stamps back? And how would I write up a letter? What am I suppose to say?

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    1. You can write a simple letter or print out a simple lease agreement online and sign it. It’s helpful if she pays the rent and utilities by check so she has a receipt, just in case they ever ask for it (they may not).

      But she may have gotten cut off because she added you to her account? is that what happened? did she give them your financial information?

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  26. the math they did said $450 out of pocket for us for rent and utilities. So your advice is that he should pay half the rent and i pay half the utilities instead of having it that he pays utilities and i pay rent.

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    1. If your son is an adult, it is usually best if your bank account and finances are kept separate.

      Yes, if someone does not pay their share of rent and utilities their SSI check can be reduced or they can owe money back.

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  27. the only utilities we pay is electric, and phone. We are not at the maximum SSI. Our Social Security benefits are part of our income, and then SSI brings it up to the maximum we would receive if all we had was SSI.

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    1. Hi ash,

      The numbers are not quite adding up for me 🙂

      Maximum SSI would be a minimum of $1500 ($750 each) higher in some states.

      If housing charges 30% that would be a minimum of $450. You wrote $315. Just making sure I am not missing something? Perhaps that is the figure after utilities?

      I think you’d need to know if the $315 includes utilities to be able to figure out if it is worth it to you.

      It may reduce your food stamps somewhat, but not completely. In most cases HUD housing is definitely worth it 🙂

      The way you and your son are doing your rent and utilities could cause you to owe money back. Please be careful. The rent regs are here: https://howtogeton.wordpress.com/2017/01/26/how-to-figure-out-how-much-rent-to-pay-on-ssi/

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  28. I have just been approved for HUD and am excited. I am disabled, on SSI and SSD…my 25 year old son lives with me, he is also disabled and he has SSI and then death benefits from his dad. We each receive foodstamps because we eat our meals separately ..((my health issues have me on a specific diet)) I get $294 in food stamps cause I pay the rent which is $650. He gets $61 in foodstamps because he pays utilities. HUD is knocking our rent down to $315. If they take our foodstamps away because of this…I am let wondering if HUD is worth it, as it seems I would be trading one hardship (not being able to afford my bills) for another (not being able to afford food) As it is, i get a total of $750 for me..and $650 goes to rent..so i get the maximum in foodstamps

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    1. Hi Ash,

      I’m going through the numbers. Are you both at maximum SSI?

      Usually you need to each pay half the utilities and half the rent, otherwise your SSI check will be reduced.

      Switching to HUD would probably reduce your food stamps but might not eliminate it. It’s a complicated formula.

      Does the $315 include utilities? Does the $650 include utilities?

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  29. Also can a worker question if your children are in your care and what school district they go too. Can their schooling affect our benefits ? I’m just confused where she was going with her questions.

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    1. these questions look acceptable to me. she is trying to determine if the children live with you. if they were in another school district that could be an indication that they live elsewhere.

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    2. From the questions you are mentioning here, it sounds like something may have come up to make her need to confirm who is living in your house. As long as you were honest on your forms, you should not have any problems. If you speak with her again, perhaps you can ask her if any issues came up with your case or why she needed to call you back with more questions?

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  30. Hi I have a question I had my reenstatement interview with my worker at the end of the call she said I was approved for my benefit. She calls the next day saying I’m not approved and asked for more paper work. As we talked she said she left a message for me to a guy than asked me if he was my bf I said yes she’s like ok. Than she asked other questions I answered her she than said are u sure I’m like yes. But repeatedly. I feel she was out of line to treat me in this manner but I called the call center they said she was. So my question can she dismisse my case after she herself said I was approved. It honestly just seems she is looking for something just so I won’t get my benefits. I’m a mother of 3 and this is stressing me out when all I’m doing is right.

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  31. I have a question my worker called me for my reeenstaement of my snap Benefits one we hung up she said I was approved for the next months. So today I get a call once again about my case stating I’m not approved and needs more paper work. Can they do this? Also she asked if the person who she left a message with when I missed her call was my BF? Can they ask this? Also can they ask questions over abc over and say am I sure after I already answered her question? I’m s mother of 3 and I’m low income I just feel she’s trying to judge me. Or something

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    1. If they need more paperwork they can request this at any time.

      I don’t think she should be asking about your love life in general.

      It would be normal for her to ask if anyone else lives in the house with you and if they share food with you – that is part of the food stamps application.

      She can also ask if the father of your children lives with you – this would affect food stamps as well.

      I don’t know exactly what she asked. If you feel she is harassing you, you could ask to speak to a supervisor about it.

      I hope your application goes well.

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  32. Do I need to send proof of change in rent if I am on hud? I know they access child support via a system they can see so I don’t need to send anything. Will I be required to send a hard copy? Also do I need to report my blind/disabled 17 year old has a cell phone he pays or no if he is not an adult? He uses his ssi to pay it. Thanks for all this information. I am in wisconsin but cannot find any imformation.

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    1. Hi Heidi,

      If your child is part of your food stamps case, you might want to tell your caseworker that he now pays for a cell phone, because in some states your food stamps go up if your household has to pay for a telephone.

      If he’s on SSI, he may be able to get a free cell phone, unless you already have one: https://howtogeton.wordpress.com/2017/01/26/how-to-get-a-free-phone-that-doesnt-suck/

      Food stamps will not automatically know if your rent changes. It would probably be best to contact your caseworker and let them know about the rent change. They may not need/require proof, your caseworker should be able to tell you.

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  33. My mom receives housing assistance via HUD Vash. She was receiving $128 and putting filling out the “rent” box on he SNAP form for the entire rent amount, $700, because she thought the part that HUD pays didn’t count as income. Her caseworker had her change the “rent” box to be only the portion of rent that she pays, instead of the combined amount for her and HUD, $200, and her food stamps went down to $36. Is this correct? She is finding it very hard to get enough food for $36, but she’s afraid to schedule a hearing and owe backpayment if they determine she was previously overpaid. Thank you!

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    1. I’m sorry to say, I believe that what the worker said is correct. As far as I know, she cannot get credit for rent that she did not pay.

      If she pays utilities separate from rent, this can have a big impact on food stamps in some states. Also if she declares any health or medical expenses this can make a big difference.

      there are some more ideas on this page that I hope might help: https://howtogeton.wordpress.com/2017/01/26/how-to-get-enough-food-stamps-to-actually-eat/

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  34. Thank you for your reply Sleepygirl!! My rent is $950.00, we are near Boston but I am the only one that receives SNAP.. I know I’m over the guidelines for what a person on disability should be paying. I believe it’s suppose to be no more than 1/2 of what I get. But I think I also read in one of your pages that SSI doesn’t care if you pay more for rent or paying someone else’s rent because it is your money. I get so afraid to do anything as they literally hold my life in their hands! I may have a few other questions on topics as I navigate your site! I am in awe at the wealth of information and it is presented. I do get confused when I open up so many Windows, so just trying to back off from panicking.

    Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
    Me

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  35. I live with my girlfriend and pay rent. I called SNAP to get food stamp benefits, but I put down that I paid less then I actually pay because she did not want to become a landlord and have to start paying taxes. She lives in a small condominium and pays a mortgage. I was getting $16.00 a month (My God) and finally called and explained that I pay more for rent then I originally put down and my girlfriend does not want to enter into a landlord/renter relationship and does not want to have to claim it and start paying taxes, etc., as it more like we are roommates. The woman at the DTA/SNAP benefits office said that she does not have to claim it, or pay any taxes. We finally breathed a sign of relief as l have been through bell just trying to get disability! You stated right under ‘rent and portal’s “If you are paying someone rent, that person is considered to have income. This should be reported to the IRS, or any other agencies where your landlord needs to report income.” And now she is so worried. I actually pay more than the SSI rules as well. I never knew any of this stuff and didn’t even know I had to report rent increases to SSI. I knew I had to for SNAP. So we are pretty freaked out by all this and I live on the edge of such anxiety and depression. I believe DTA or maybe it was SSI sent me a letter that said I was 125% (BELOW) the poverty level!! So basically they are telling me I’m dead!!

    I would appreciate any guidance and wisdom you could share! You all have put together such an important site for people like us!! I am so sorry that this is long and complicated.

    P.S. Robin Meads colors and art have a calming affect-thank you!!

    Warmly,
    Busted in Massachusetts

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    1. So sorry you are panicking. I think it will be OK.

      You don’t need to report to SSI if your rent goes up – only if you start getting free rent or reduced rent or someone starts paying part of your rent.

      I couldn’t tell from your post if your girlfriend is receiving SNAP. If she is on SNAP herself, she would want to report the rent she is collecting to SNAP. If she is not on SNAP, there is no reason she would be giving SNAP information about her income.

      Taxes are a totally separate area. I do not know very much about taxes. I have read that as a general rule, people renting out rooms are supposed to report this on their taxes, but can also claim deductions as a landlord. Sorry, I really do not know more, you would need to look up IRS regs to find out more.

      I hope it goes well for you. Thank you for your lovely note.

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