DSS-HRA-DHS Updates
Community Partners Updates
Important updates as well as an ongoing synopsis of the information shared in prior communications are on our DSS Community Updates page. We encourage you to use and share this link to answer questions on the many topics we have covered.
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Extension of the Cash Assistance (CA) Interview Waiver on Single Issuance (SI) Cases for Shelter and Community Moves with Certain Rental Subsidy Programs
The Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) has approved a two-year extension of the waiver of the Cash Assistance (CA) interview requirement for certain applying households to support moveouts from shelter, as well as community moves to prevent eviction, with any of the following housing programs:
- City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS);
- DHS Supportive Housing placements;
- Pathway Home; and
- Section 8
- Shelter Moves
- Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV)
The waiver is now authorized from May 1, 2024, through April 30, 2026. OTDA initially approved the waiver for the period of May 19, 2023, through April 30, 2024.
Individuals moving either out of shelter or with a rental subsidy who are not in receipt of CA must apply for an emergency assistance grant (One-Shot Deal) to get help with moving-related costs (e.g., first month’s rent, broker fee, security voucher, etc.) and to get their rental subsidy processed so payments may be issued. As part of the application process, an eligibility interview is usually required before a determination can be made. As a result of the waiver discussed above, these households can now be approved for rental assistance, if eligible, without an interview.
This waiver is only applicable to the CA interview requirement. All other aspects of the eligibility review and determination requirements remain in effect.
Community partners assisting clients with rental subsidy packages should be aware that although these applicants will receive a message on ACCESS HRA (AHRA) to call for their CA interview after they submit their application, they are not required to do so.
Note: This waiver does not apply to households that qualify for and/or are applying for ongoing CA or who apply for SNAP at the same time as they apply for a One-Shot Deal. These households must continue to complete all the required steps of the CA and SNAP eligibility process, including an interview, prior to being approved for rental assistance.
Updated Guidance on Providing Assistance to Ukrainian Humanitarian Parolees (UHPs)
In response to the Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024, Division B of the Act Making Supplemental Appropriations for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2024, OTDA released a GIS with updated guidance on meeting the needs of certain Ukrainian individuals and families, or non-Ukrainians who last habitually resided in Ukraine who are paroled in to the United States (U.S.) due to urgent humanitarian reasons, known as Ukrainian Humanitarian Parolees (UHPs), and are applying for assistance and/or benefits through Temporary Assistance (TA), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA), Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA) and/or Medicaid (MA). This law extends the time period during which Ukrainian Humanitarian Parolees (UHPs) may be paroled into the U.S. and thus eligible for certain benefits to September 30, 2024.
The Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024 provided that UHPs who are granted parole between February 24, 2022, and September 30, 2024, are now eligible to receive CA, SNAP, HEAP, RCA, RMA and MA. These individuals are not subject to a waiting period and are immediately eligible for benefits as long as they meet all other program financial and non-financial eligibility requirements. UHPs’ spouses or unmarried children under the age of 21 who were paroled into the U.S. after September 30, 2023, continue to be eligible to apply for these benefits and receive them, if otherwise eligible. If the paroled Ukrainian was an unaccompanied child, their parents, legal guardians, or primary caregivers paroled after September 30, 2023, also continue to be eligible for these benefits.
Free, confidential language support, including Ukrainian interpretation, is available in all DSS/HRA locations. All applicants, regardless of immigration status, can go to their nearest Center for assistance as needed.
Ukrainian nationals who have only applied for or been granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and have no underlying humanitarian parole or other immigration status are not eligible for federal benefits but would be considered PRUCOL and eligible for SNA and MA if they otherwise meet program eligibility requirements.
The following is an updated list of U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) / United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) documents that may be provided by UHPs, to verify they were granted humanitarian parole when applying for benefits.
