[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7 Volume 4]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR253.6]

[Page 483-487]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
    CHAPTER II--FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 
PART 253--ADMINISTRATION OF THE FOOD DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM FOR HOUSEHOLDS ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 253.6  Eligibility of households.

    (a) Household concept. (1) The State agency shall determine 
eligibility for the Food Distribution Program on a household basis. 
Household means any of the following individuals or groups of 
individuals, provided that such individuals or groups are not boarders 
or residents of an institution and provided that separate household or 
boarder status shall not be granted to a spouse of a member of the 
household, or to children under 18 years of age under the parental 
control of a member of the household.
    (i) An individual living alone.
    (ii) An individual living with others, but customarily purchasing 
food and preparing meals for home consumption separate and apart from 
the others.
    (iii) A group of individuals living together for whom food is 
customarily purchased in common and for whom meals are prepared together 
for home consumption.
    (2) Nonhousehold members. The following individuals residing with a 
household shall not be considered household members in determining the 
household's eligibility. Nonhousehold members specified in paragraphs 
(a)(2) (i) and (v) who are otherwise eligible may participate in the 
Program as separate households.
    (i) Roomers. Individuals to whom a household furnishes lodging, but 
not meals, for compensation.
    (ii) SSI recipients in ``cash-out'' States. Recipients of SSI 
benefits who reside in a State designated by the Secretary of Health, 
Education, and Welfare to have specifically included the value of the 
coupon allotment in its State supplemental payments. These persons are 
not eligible for Food Distribution Program benefits.
    (iii) Disqualified individuals. Individuals disqualified from the 
Food Stamp Program for fraud, as set forth in Sec. 273.16.
    (iv) Illegal residents. Individuals who are not legal residents of 
the United States. While U.S. citizenship is not required for 
participation in the Food Distribution Program, persons receiving food 
distribution benefits must be lawfully living in the United States.
    (v) Others. Other individuals who share living quarters with the 
household but who do not customarily purchase food and prepare meals 
with the household. For example, if the applicant household shares 
living quarters with another family to save on rent, but does not 
purchase and prepare food together with that family, the members of the 
other family are not members of the applicant household.
    (3) Authorized representatives. The head of the household, spouse, 
or any other responsible member of the household may designate an 
authorized representative to act on behalf of the household in making 
application for commodities and/or obtaining commodities as provided in 
Sec. 253.7(a)(10)(i) and Sec. 253.7(a)(10)(ii) respectively.
    (b) Residency or citizenship. (1) All households residing on a 
reservation on which the FDPIR operates shall be eligible to apply for 
program benefits on that reservation regardless of whether they include 
an Indian member. All Indian tribal households as defined in 
Sec. 253.2(c) of this part which reside in near areas established under 
Sec. 253.4(d) of this part shall be eligible to apply for program 
benefits. The ITO or State agency shall serve all income-eligible 
applicant households residing on reservations who apply for benefits, 
and all income-eligible applicant Indian tribal households residing in 
near areas. The ITO or State agency administering the program in a near 
area shall, for purposes of determining program eligibility, accept 
documentation from a household member's tribe of origin as proof of 
tribal membership. Residency shall not mean domicile nor shall the State 
agency impose any durational residency requirement.

[[Page 484]]

However, persons on the reservation solely for vacations shall not be 
considered residents. No household may participate in the Food Stamp 
Program or in the Food Distribution Program in more than one 
geographical area at the same time.
    (2) No person shall participate in the Food Distribution Program on 
an Indian reservation unless the person is legally a resident of the 
United States. A further discussion of ``legal residency'' is provided 
in paragraph (a)(2)(iv) of this section.
    (c) Income and resource eligibility standards of public assistance, 
supplemental security income, and certain general assistance households. 
(1) Households in which all members are included in a federally aided 
public assistance or supplemental security income grant, except as 
provided for in paragraph (a)(2)(ii) of this section, shall, if 
otherwise eligible under this part, be determined to be eligible to 
participate in the Food Distribution Program while receiving such grants 
without regard to the income and resources of the household members.
    (2) If FNS determines that a State or local general assistance 
program applies criteria of need the same as or similar to, those 
applied under any of the federally aided public assistance programs, 
households in which all members are included in such a general 
assistance grant, shall, if otherwise eligible under this part, be 
determined to be eligible to participate in the Food Distribution 
Program while receiving such grants without regard to the income and 
resources of household members.
    (d) Resource eligibility standards--(1) Uniform household standards 
for nonassistance households. The State agency shall apply uniform 
national resource standards of eligibility to all applicant households, 
except those in which all members are recipients of federally aided 
public assistance, supplemental security income, or certain general 
assistance program benefits as provided in paragraph (c)(2) of this 
section. The maximum allowable resources shall not exceed $1,750 for the 
household; except that, for households of two or more members which 
include a member or members age 60 or over, such resources shall not 
exceed $3,000.
    (2) Resources. In determining the resources of a household, only 
cash on hand, money in checking or savings accounts, savings 
certificates, stocks, or bonds, or other readily negotiable and 
accessible certificates or instruments shall be counted; except that the 
following resources shall be entirely excluded:
    (i) The cash value of life insurance policies and pension funds, 
including funds in pension plans with interest penalties for early 
withdrawals, such as a Keogh plan or an Individual Retirement Account 
(IRA), as long as the funds remain in the pension plans.
    (ii) Any governmental payments which are designated for the 
restoration of a home damaged in a disaster, if the household is subject 
to a legal sanction if the funds are not used as intended, for example 
payments made by the Department of Housing and Urban Development through 
the individual and family grant program of disaster loans or grants made 
by the Small Business Administration.
    (iii) Resources, such as those of students or self-employed persons, 
which have been prorated as income. The treatment of self-employment 
income is explained in Sec. 253.7(b)(1)(iii).
    (iv) Resources which are excluded by express provision of Federal 
statute. The following is the current listing of resources excluded by 
Federal statute:
    (A) Payment received under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act 
(Pub. L. 92-203, section 21(a) or the Sac and Fox Indian claims 
agreement Pub. L. 94-189);
    (B) Payments received by certain Indian tribal members under Pub. L. 
94-114, section 6, regarding submarginal land held in trust by the 
United States;
    (C) Payments received by certain Indian tribal members under Pub. L. 
94-540 regarding the Grand River Bank of Ottawa Indians;
    (D) Reimbursements from the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real 
Property Acquistion Policy Act of 1970 (Pub. L. 91-646, section 216);
    (E) Earned income tax credits received before January 1, 1980, as a 
result of Pub. L. 95-600, the Revenue Act of 1978.

[[Page 485]]

    (3) Jointly owned resources. Resources owned jointly by separate 
households shall be prorated between or among those households unless 
the applicant can demonstrate that such resources are inaccessible to it 
because access to the value of the resource is dependent upon the 
agreement of a joint owner who refuses to comply.
    (4) Resources of disqualified members. Resources of individuals 
disqualified from participation in the Food Stamp Program for fraud 
shall continue to count in their entirety to the remaining household 
members when determining the household's eligibility for the Food 
Distribution Program.
    (e) Income--(1) Income eligibility standards for nonassistance 
households. (i) The State agency shall apply uniform national income 
eligibility standards for the Food Distribution Program except for 
households in which all members are recipients of public assistance, 
supplemental security income except as provided for in paragraph 
(a)(2)(ii) of this section, paragraph (c) of this section, or certain 
general assistance program payments as provided in Sec. 283.6(c). The 
income eligibility standards shall be the monthly income eligibility 
standards for the Food Stamp Program in the State, increased by the 
amount of the standard deduction for that State, as published in the 
appendix to Sec. 273.9.
    (ii) The income eligibility standards for the Food Distribution 
Program shall be adjusted each October 1, as necessary, to reflect 
changes in the Food Stamp Program income eligibility limits and standard 
deductions.
    (2) Definition of income. Household income shall mean all income 
from whatever source, excluding only items specified in paragraph (e)(3) 
of this section.
    (i) Earned income shall include:
    (A) All wages and salaries of an employee.
    (B) The total gross income from a self-employment enterprise, 
including the net profit from the sale of any capital goods or equipment 
related to the business. Ownership of rental property shall be 
considered a self-employment enterprise. Payments from a roomer and 
returns on rental property shall be considered self-employment income.
    (C) Training allowances from vocational and rehabilitative programs 
recognized by Federal, State or local governments, such as the Work 
Incentive Program, and programs authorized by the Job Training 
Partnership Act, to the extent they are not a reimbursement.
    (ii) Unearned income shall include, but not be limited to:
    (A) Assistance payments from Federal or Federally aided public 
assistance programs, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or 
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), General Assistance (GA) 
programs, or other assistance programs based on need.
    (B) Annuities; pensions; retirement; veteran's or disability 
benefits; worker's or unemployment compensation; old-age, survivors, or 
social security benefits; strike benefits; foster care payments for 
children or adults.
    (C) Support or alimony payments made directly to the household from 
nonhousehold members.
    (D) Scholarships, education grants, fellowships, deferred payment 
loans for education, veteran's education benefit and the like in excess 
of amounts excluded under paragraph (e)(3)(iii) of this section.
    (E) Payments from Government-sponsored programs, dividends, 
interest, royalties, and all other direct money payments from any source 
which can be construed to be a gain or benefit.
    (F) The earned or unearned income of an individual disqualified from 
participation in the Food Stamp Program for fraud shall continue to be 
counted as income, less the pro rata share for the disqualified member. 
Procedures for calculating this pro rata share are described in 
Sec. 253.7.
    (iii) Income shall not include the following:
    (A) Monies withheld from an assistance payment, earned income or 
other income source, or monies received from any income source which are 
voluntarily or involuntarily returned to repay a prior overpayment 
received from that income source.
    (B) Child support payments received by TANF recipients which must be

[[Page 486]]

transferred to the agency administering title IV-D of the Social 
Security Act of 1935, as amended, to maintain TANF eligibility.
    (3) Income exclusions. Only the following items shall be excluded 
from household income and no other income shall be disregarded:
    (i) Any gain or benefit which is not in the form of money payable 
directly to the household, including:
    (A) In-kind income. Nonmonetary or in-kind benefits, such as meals, 
clothing, public housing, or produce from a garden.
    (B) Vendor payments. A payment made in money on behalf of a 
household shall be considered a vendor payment whenever a person or 
organization outside of the household uses its own funds to make a 
direct payment to either the household's creditors or a person or 
organization providing a service to the household. For example, if a 
relative, who is not a household member, pays out of its own resources 
the household's rent directly to the landlord, the payment is considered 
a vendor payment and is not counted as income to the household. Also, 
payments specified by a court order or other written support or alimony 
agreement to go directly to a third party rather than the household and 
support payments which are paid to a third party are excluded as vendor 
payments. Wages garnished or diverted by employers, or money deducted or 
otherwise diverted from a household's public assistance grant by a State 
for purposes such as managing the household's expenses, shall not be 
considered a vendor payment, since the person or organization making the 
payment is using money payable to the household rather than its own 
funds.
    (ii) Any income in the certification period which is received too 
infrequently or irregularly to be reasonably anticipated, but not in 
excess of $30 in a quarter.
    (iii) Education loans on which payment is deferred, grants 
scholarships, fellowships, veterans' educational benefits, and the like 
to the extent that they are used for tuition and mandatory school fees. 
Mandatory fees are those charged to all students or those charged to all 
students within a certain curriculum. For example, uniforms, lab fees, 
or equipment charged to all students to enroll in a chemistry course 
would be excluded. However, transportation, supplies, and textbook 
expenses are not uniformly charged to all students and, therefore, would 
not be excluded as mandatory fees.
    (iv) All loans, including loans from private individuals as well as 
commercial institutions, other than education loans on which repayment 
is deferred.
    (v) Reimbursements for past or future expenses to the extent they do 
not exceed actual expenses. For example, reimbursements of flat 
allowances for job or training related expenses such as travel per diem, 
uniforms, and transportation to and from the job or training site are 
excluded as income.
    (vi) Monies received and used for care and maintenance of a third 
party beneficiary who is not a household member.
    (vii) The earned income (as defined in paragraph (e)(2)(i) of this 
section) of children who are members of the household, who are students 
at least half time and who have not attained their eighteenth birthday. 
The exclusion shall continue to apply during temporary interruptions in 
school attendance due to semester or vaction breaks, provided the 
child's enrollment will resume following the break. Individuals are 
considered children for purposes of this provision if they are under the 
parental control of another household member.
    (viii) Money received in the form of a nonrecurring lump sum 
payment, including but not limited to, income tax refunds, rebates, or 
credits; retroactive lump-sum social security, SSI, public assistance, 
railroad retirement benefits or other payments, or retroactive lump-sum 
insurance settlements; refunds of security deposits on rental properties 
or utilities or lump-sum payments arising from land interests held in 
trust for, or by, a tribe. These payments shall be counted as resources 
in the month received unless specifically excluded from consideration as 
a resource by other Federal law.
    (ix) The cost of producing self-employment income. The procedures 
for computing the cost of producing self-employment income are described 
in Sec. 253.7(b)(1)(iii).

[[Page 487]]

    (x) Any income that is specifically excluded by any other Federal 
statute from consideration as income. The following Federal statutes 
provide such an exclusion.
    (A) Reimbursements from the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real 
Property Acquisition Policy Act of 1970 (Pub. L. 91-646, section 216).
    (B) Payments received under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act 
(Pub. L. 92-203, section 21(a)).
    (C) Any payment to volunteers under Title II (RSVP, foster 
grandparents, and others) and title III (SCORE and ACE) of the Domestic 
Volunteer Services Act of 1973 (Pub. L. 93-113), as amended. Payments 
under title I (VISTA) to volunteers shall be excluded for those 
individuals receiving federally donated commodities, food stamps, or 
public assistance at the time they joined the title I program, except 
that households which are receiving an income exclusion for a VISTA or 
other title I subsistence allowance at the time of implementation of 
these rules shall continue to receive an income exclusion for VISTA for 
the length of their volunteer contract in effect at the time of 
implementation of these rules. Temporary interruptions in food 
distribution shall not alter the exclusion once an initial determination 
has been made. New applicants who are not receiving federally donated 
commodities, food stamps or public assistance at the time they joined 
VISTA shall have these volunteer payments included as earned income.
    (D) Income derived from certain submarginal land of the United 
States which is held in trust for certain Indian tribes (Pub. L. 94-114, 
section 6).
    (E) Payments received by certain Indian tribal members under Pub. L. 
94-540 regarding the Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians.
    (f) Income deductions. (1) Households with earned income, as defined 
in paragraph (e)(2)(i) of this section, shall be allowed a deduction of 
twenty percent of their earned income. Earned income excluded under 
paragraph (e)(3) of this section shall not be considered earned income 
for the purpose of computing this deduction.
    (2) Households shall also receive a deduction for the actual costs 
for the care of a child or other dependent when necessary for a 
household member to accept or continue employment or attend training or 
pursue education which is preparatory to employment. This deduction 
shall not exceed the maximum allowable deduction for dependent care 
costs allowable under the Food Stamp Program in the 48 States and the 
District of Columbia.
    (3) Households will receive a deduction for legally required child 
support payments paid by a household member to or for a nonhousehold 
member, including payments made to a third party on behalf of the 
nonhousehold member (vendor payments). The State agency must allow a 
deduction for amounts paid towards overdue child support (arrearages). 
Alimony payments made to or for a nonhousehold member cannot be included 
in the child support deduction.
    (4) Households will receive a deduction for the full amount of the 
Medicare Part B medical insurance premium that is withheld from the 
Federal retirement or disability payment of a household member or is 
paid by a household member directly to Medicare. This income deduction 
is not allowed in situations where the premium is paid by the State on 
behalf of the Medicare beneficiary or where household members are not 
Medicare beneficiaries because they receive their health care through 
the Indian Health Service.

[44 FR 35928, June 19, 1979. Redesignated by Amdt. 1, 47 FR 14137, Apr. 
2, 1982, and amended at 59 FR 1449, Jan. 11, 1994; 64 FR 73383, Dec. 30, 
1999; 65 FR 47833, Aug. 4, 2000]