Senator MORSE. Without objection there will be inserted at this point a table showing the activity of the surplus food distribution program in the month of January 1959 taken from a report compiled by the Department of Public Welfare. (The table referred to follows:) TABLE 2A.-Surplus food distribution, January 1959 Senator MORSE. A table prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture giving the number of recipients of surplus food in each State, without objection will be made a part of the record at this point. (The table referred to follows:) STATE-BY-STATE RECORD OF RECIPIENTS The number of persons receiving surplus foods in the "needy persons" category has been increased to the largest total since 1942. Here is the State-byState record of numbers of persons for the latest month reported, December, 1958: Senator MORSE. There will be incorporated in the hearing record at this point from the regulations of the Public Assistance Division of the Department of Public Welfare of the District of Columbia a copy of the budget standards used in the determination of recipient budget. Trust Territory 5,835 Total 5, 230, 044 (The budget standards referred to follow :) 341.000 D.C.-D.P.W.-PAD MANUAL-PART III 340.000 STANDARDS FOR REQUIREMENTS Standard budget items 341.100 The Commissioners' budget standard.-In order to assure equal treatment to all applicants and recipients, the agency has adopted a budget standard which is used for all cases and in all categories of public assistance. The budget standard, which has been developed on the basis of cost figures obtained from pricing studies made by the Institute of Home Economics of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in April 1957 on the items to be included in the recipients "Content of living," is established by the District of Columbia Board of Commissioners, and is therefore referred to as the Commissioners' budget standard. It provides the yardstick against which available income and other available resource are measured, to determine whether applicants or recipients are in need of financial assistance. This means that the amount of assistance any recipient shall receive, shall equal his need, i.e., the difference between the total of his available income and resources, and the Commissioners' budget standard. Three types of requirements are included in the Commissioners' budget standard: Basic personal requirements. Allowances for shelter cost. Contingent items for recipients in specified circumstances. 341.200 Basic personal requirements shall be considered common to all recipients, and shall include provision for food, clothing, and personal and household necessities. Personal and household necessities shall include housekeeping supplies, laundry, insurance, personal, and medicine chest supplies. Basic personal requirements shall be calculated as follows: 341.210 Persons eating at home When the grantee- relative in ADC cases is not to be included in the assistance payment, the allowance for the children is arrived at from the family size based on the grantee-relative and the number of children for whom financial aid is requested. (For example, a grandmother asks for aid for two grandchildren, aged 6 and 10, but not for herself. Including the grandmother the family size is three. The children are both within the age range from 6 through 12, therefore, the basic personal requirement allowance is $29 for each child.) 341.220 Persons eating out. Children age 6 and over shall be considered adults for allowance purposes. An allowance for more than two persons eating out shall be made only in exceptional instances, for a temporary period which should not extend beyond 3 months. 341.230 Room and board arrangements 341.231 Allowances for room and board only. In cases in which the payment to the landlord includes both shelter and food, the amount actually paid shall be included in the estimate of need, up to but not in excess of the following maximums: Children age 6 and over shall be considered adults for allowance purposes. 341.232 Total amount of allowances in room and board situations.-The same allowances for clothing and personal incidentals shall be allowed to recipients in room and board arrangements as to others: An allowance for room and board for more than 2 persons shall be made only in exceptional instances, for a temporary period which should not extend beyond 3 months. 341.240 Convalescent or nursing care: Room, board and care_. Clothing Personal and household requirements--- Total_ 341.250 Basis for determining food requirements Per month $100 7 3 110 341.251 Use of cooking facilities.-There are some factors which need to be considered in deciding whether the amount for food should be for an individual eating out or cooking own meals. The first consideration would be whether or not adequate cooking facilities are available. The existence of a hotplate in the recipient's room, without any means of refrigeration, would not necessarily constitute adequate facilities. If kitchen privileges are a part of living arrangements, and refrigeration facilities are available, an allowance for eating out would not be justified unless there are physical reasons why the recipient cannot cook. The second consideration would be ability to cook. If adequate cooking facilities are available, the allowance for persons cooking their own meals is to be used, unless there is a sound reason why the recipient or his wife is not able to cook—such as infirmity or blindness. Some elderly persons have become so shaky and tremulous that they may not feel able to cook for themselves. These are some illustrations of situations in which a determination may be made by the worker and supervisor that the allowance for eating out is justified. The agency would not require a physical examination in order to make this determination, unless the recipient insists that he is physically unable to cook and there seemed to be no evidence of this inability. 341.252 Proportion of food allowance to be used when some meals are eaten out. In order to determine the food allowance when a recipient prepares some meals at home and purchases some meals away from home, meals shall be computed on the following basis: Breakfast. 20 percent of the monthly food allowance. If, for example, breakfast is eaten in and lunch and dinner are eaten out, the grant would be based on 20 percent of the monthly amount for a person cooking his own meals and 80 percent of the amount allowed for a person eating out. The total of these two amounts would represent the total monthly food allow ance. The shelter allowance shall not be affected unless all meals are eaten out. 341.300 Shelter costs 341.310 Standard shelter costs are budgeted as actually paid, but not in excess of the maximum stated below: The verified cost of rent shall be allowed as paid by the individual or family when it does not exceed the maximum figure set forth above. This maximum figure applies to the cost of shelter for a period of 1 month, and does not place a limitation on the number of living quarters occupied during 1 month. 341.320 Cost of utilities, heat, and refrigeration.-When the cost of utilities and/or refrigeration and/or heat are included in the rental charge, the amount allowed for shelter may equal, if necessary, the combined total of the maximum figures for rent and/or utilities and/or refrigeration and/or heating fuel. (The word "utilities" applies to either cooking or lighting or both.) When the cost of utilities and/or refrigeration and/or heat are not included in the rental charge the allowance for these items shall be the amount established by the Department. Recipients using bottled gas for cooking purposes shall be given a utility allowance of $6, regardless of the number of persons in the household. Water rent shall be paid only if it is specified in the contract, and in a prorated amount by dividing the semiannnual water bill into six monthly installments. Refrigeration shall include any means for which payment is made to keep food from spoiling-electric or gas refrigerator, ice, etc. 341.330 Costs of homeownership.-When an applicant or recipient resides in real estate owned and occupied by him, allowance may be made for taxes, mortgage interest, amortization payments, water rent, other carrying charges, and the cost of keeping the property in reasonable state of repair. The amounts shall be determined on the advice of the Resource and Collections Unit. Such allowances in lieu of rent shall be within the maximum rental allowances except for property on which a public notice of indebtedness has been recorded with the Recorder of Deeds. See contingent item 342.700, property assessments in old-age assistance and aid to the needy blind. 342.000 Contingent items.1 The following contingent items may be included when justified by the individual circumstances of the recipient. Contingent items are exempt from any administrative grant reduction. 342.100 Fee for appointment of committee.-Allowance may be made for bond premium and other necessary costs, such as court costs, auditor's fee and commission (if the client was receiving assistance during the period for which the commission is requested) in cases in which committee is appointed by a court for the special purpose of administering grants for incompetents. Payments may be made by including the amount in the grant on Form No. 58, or by use of Form No. 151-"Authorization To Purchase." 342.200 Housekeeping services.-"When members of the applicant or recipient group are without proper care because of illness or incapacity and care can only be provided at additional cost, a reasonable allowance may be included in the assistance plan to pay for necessary services." This provision is intended to cover instances in which children are left unattended during hospitalization or other temporary absence of the caretaker-relative, by enabling the agency to pay for homemaker service; and instances in which an aged or ill person can be 1 Departmental Regulation No. 4.5, July 12, 1957. |