CalWORKs diversion payments should not interfere with CalFresh applications

Sometimes welfare offices keep people from applying for CalWORKs benefits, either by giving them a one-time payment to help meet immediate needs or by providing various services. This is called “diversion”.

Sometimes diversion efforts have the unintended effect of deterring the household from applying for CalFresh benefits. Even if someone has been diverted from applying for CalWORKs, they must be allowed to file a CalFresh application.

Existing application protections also apply to diversion recipients, including:

They must be permitted to file a CalFresh application the first day they contact the CalFresh office;
Their CalFresh application only needs to have a name, address, and signature before it can be submitted;
Their CalFresh application must be processed within 30 days of the date of the initial application. This applies even if the CalWORKS application is withdrawn or delayed unless applying for emergency (expedited) CalFresh benefits [7 C.F.R. § 273.2(j); MPP § 63-301.6];
They must specifically withdraw the CalFresh application for it to be terminated. [7 C.F.R. § 273.2(c)(6)].

What is the direct impact of a diversion payment on CalFresh eligibility? Simply put, one-time diversion payments should not be counted as income in determining CalFresh eligibility.

In 1998, USDA became concerned about the effect of varied general assistance and public assistance diversion programs and their inconsistent treatment by states of how those programs affected food stamp eligibility. See General Assistance and Public Assistance Diversion Payments (June 16, 1998). After evaluating the differences among state programs, USDA later recognized that diversion programs, or at least the manner in which they were administered, had an adverse effect on eligible households applying for and completing food stamp applications. See Food Stamp Program Access Study at 35; see also TANF-ACF-PI-2008-05 (Diversion Programs) (May 22, 2008), a U.S. Health and Human Services memo explaining the difference between recurring basic income support, countable as income, and nonrecurrent, short-term benefits offered by diversion programs, which are not.