Welfare assistance
Welfare assistance means (for purposes of the FSS program only) income assistance from Federal (i.e., Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or subsequent program), State, or local welfare programs and includes only cash maintenance payments designed to meet a family's ongoing basic needs. Welfare assistance does not include:
(i) Nonrecurrent, short-term benefits that:
(A) Are designed to deal with a specific crisis or episode of need;
(B) Are not intended to meet recurrent or ongoing needs; and,
(C) Will not extend beyond four months;
(ii) Work subsidies (i.e., payments to employers or third parties to help cover the costs of employee wages, benefits, supervision, and training);
(iii) Supportive services such as child care and transportation provided to families who are employed;
(iv) Refundable earned income tax credits;
(v) Contributions to, and distributions from, Individual Development Accounts under TANF;
(vi) Services such as counseling, case management, peer support, child care information and referral, financial empowerment, transitional services, job retention, job advancement, and other employment-related services that do not provide basic income support;
(vii) Amounts solely directed to meeting housing expenses;
(viii) Amounts for health care;
(ix) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and emergency rental and utilities assistance;
(x) Supplemental Security Income, Social Security Disability Income, or Social Security; and
(xi) Child-only or non-needy TANF grants made to or on behalf of a dependent child solely on the basis of the child's need and not on the need of the child's current non-parental caretaker.