10/22/2024
Summary:
- Pursuant to 7 CFR 273.12(c)(4)(i), the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) is required to follow up with all Food Assistance (SNAP or State Food) households to determine potential changes in shelter costs (housing and utility costs) when households report a change of address.
- When IDHS receives a reported change in address during the household's certification period, but does not receive their updated shelter costs, a notice must be sent encouraging the household to report any changes in shelter costs.
- IDHS has received approval from Food Nutrition Service (FNS) to allow the shelter costs to remain on the case even if the household fails to respond to a notice requesting shelter cost information.
- IL444-5229 Request for Shelter Costs Due to Address Change Notice has been created and will systematically generate when the household's physical address is updated but no changes have been made to the shelter costs.
- The IL444-5229 will indicate the current housing and utility costs and will instruct the household to complete with their new shelter cost information, sign and return within 10 calendar days if there are changes to report.
- Returned IL444-5229 forms will generate a task in the Ready to Certify Queue for workers to process. If the form contains unclear information, policy for acting on changes with unclear information has not changed, see PM 18-04-03.
- Food Assistance households are not required to return IL444-5229 if shelter costs remain the same and the costs will continue to budget on the case.
- IL444-5229s that are not returned will not require any follow up action and will not create any tasks. Family Community Resource Centers (FCRCs) should ensure that case comments are reviewed at next Redetermination (REDE) or MPR, whichever occurs first, so that address changes without shelter cost updates can be followed up on.
Pursuant to 7 CFR 273.12(c)(4)(i), when an address change is reported by the Food Assistance household or other verified source but information regarding shelter costs is unknown, the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), is required to follow up with the household to determine if there is a change.
IDHS has received approval through Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to allow the shelter costs to remain on the food assistance case even if the household fails to respond to a notice requesting shelter cost information.
New Procedure for Reported Change of Address
When a Food Assistance household reports a change in address but does not specify if a change of shelter costs (housing and utility costs) have occurred in conjunction with the address change, IDHS must follow-up on this information to determine if there is a change in shelter costs due to the address change.
IL444-5229 Request for Shelter Costs Due to Address Change Notice has been created and will be sent to active Food Assistance households when a change to the physical address has been made on the case but the housing and utility costs have not been updated.
IES Changes
- Systematic processes have been introduced into IES for these requirements to be met. A daily batch will look for completed physical address changes on active cases receiving Food Assistance who did not have the Circumstance Start/Change Date (CS/CD) or Reported On Date updated for their housing and utility costs the same day or after the CS/CD for the physical address was updated.
- Cases identified on this batch will get mailed a centrally issued IL444-5229 which will serve as a courtesy notice to the customer that they reported an address change without reporting any change in shelter costs. The form will give them an opportunity to confirm or change any of their shelter costs.
- A new column called, SNAP Courtesy Notice Generated, has been added on the Household Address - Summary Page that will display the date IL444-5229 was generated.
- Tasks will not be created when the IL444-5229 is generated.
- New Task - 5229 - SNAP Courtesy Notice, will be created in the Ready to Certify queue when IL444-5229 is returned for worker follow-up.
- An IL444-0267 will not be created in this process and the case will not go into pending status.
Note: To ensure that unnecessary IL444-5229s are not sent, workers must update the CS/CD and Reported On dates appropriately in IES when customers report that their shelter costs stayed the same at the time of their address change. Workers must also ensure that cases who have had their physical address updated to a state other than Illinois and who are no longer eligible for Food Assistance get their case cancelled so unnecessary correspondence is not sent.
Example #1: Mateo is receiving SNAP as a Mid-Point Reporter. On 09/30/2024 he submitted an IL444-1978 to his local office to report a change in address. A worker pulls the task from the queue and updates the address. The customer does not indicate if the shelter costs have changed. The worker attempts to follow-up with the customer by phone but there is no answer. The address change has been certified, the task closed, and case comments completed.
Since there has been a completed address change without a corresponding change in housing and utility costs, IES will systematically send an IL444-5229, Request for Shelter Costs Due to Address Change.
Mateo fails to reply to the notice and therefore his shelter costs will remain the same. At this time no further action is taken and no further worker action is required. He will be given another opportunity to report changes to shelter costs at his next REDE or MPR, whichever occurs first.
FCRC Action When IL444-5229 Returned
A returned IL444-5229 will create a task 5229 - SNAP Courtesy Notice in the Ready to Certify queue for a worker to process. After selecting the task from the queue, a worker will review the reported changes on the IL444-5229 to see if updates are needed in IES. If changes are needed, the worker will initiate a Case Change, navigate to the appropriate Shelter Expense pages (Shelter Expenses and Utility Standards), update the CS/CD, the Reported On date, and the Date Client Became Aware. The worker will then update the amount of the costs and/or select the appropriate utilities. Once updated, the worker will run eligibility, certify the case and complete case comments.
If the customer reports that they are no longer paying any Housing Costs, the Shelter Expense amount needs updated to reflect $0.00 (zero) for the applicable shelter cost type(s) and the CS/CD needs updated to reflect the dates the information was received from the customer. If the customer reports they are no longer paying any utility costs, the CS/CD needs updated to reflect the date the information was received from the customer and the appropriate utilities deselected and/or the "YES/NO" questions switched to "NO" so that the utility costs can be ended.
If the form is not legible, the worker should make one attempt to follow up with the customer by phone. If clarification is not received, only the changes which are clear, if any, should be made on the case. An IL444-0267 Verification Checklist is not necessary and should not be sent. The worker should complete case comments regarding the changes made and unclear information provided and mark the task complete.
Example #2: Jose is receiving SNAP and is a Mid-Point Reporting household. He drops off a change report form reporting a new physical address but fails to report any change in shelter costs. A worker processes the address change and calls the customer to follow-up on any change to the shelter costs however the customer does not answer. IES systematically sends an IL444-5229 which Jose completes with his new shelter costs and mails to the local office. A worker starts the task associated with the returned IL444-5229, processes the shelter cost change, certifies the case, and completes a detailed case comment.
Application for Benefits Eligibility (ABE)/Manage My Case (MMC) Changes
When a customer files a REDE or initiates a change on a SNAP/State Food case (including an address change) in MMC, the shelter costs questions will be systematically queued for the customer to review, confirm, and/or make necessary changes. Customers will be unable to proceed unless both housing and utility costs are confirmed as having changed, ended, or stayed the same. Any changes to housing and/or utility costs in the MMC portal in ABE will prepopulate the corresponding entries in IES data collection for a worker to review while processing the submitted REDE or change.
Manual Revisions
[signed copy on file]
Dulce M. Quintero
Secretary-designate, Illinois Department of Human Services
Forms Referenced
IL444-5229
IL444-0267
