A—231 Who Is Included

Revision 24-3; Effective July 1, 2024

SNAP

The following people must be certified as a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) household if they live together:

  • Natural, adopted or stepparents and children 21 or younger. Parents and children are considered living together when the parent or child is away from home for employment or educational purposes and returns home at least one day a month. This includes college students who are eligible for SNAP. Consider children who are 22 beginning the month they turn 22. When determining if parents or children are required household members, consider the following:
    • The relationship between a parent and child terminates when parental rights are terminated.
    • The relationship between a stepparent and stepchild terminates when the marriage between the parent and stepparent terminates, either by death or divorce.
    • When DFPS places a child in foster care, the foster child is considered under parental control of the foster parent. If the foster child's parent moves into the home, the parent, child and foster parent must all be included in the SNAP household.
    • If the parents of a child do not live together and the child lives with each parent part of the month, the child can be certified with either parent. If both parents apply, then certify the parent who provides more meals for the child.
    • A parent or child living with a SNAP-CAP recipient can apply separately. Certify the minor child as the SNAP head of household.
  • A child under 18 and any nonparent adult household member with parental control over the child. A child not under parental control may apply separately if the child purchases and prepares food separately. Children are considered 18 beginning the month they turn 18. Even if under parental control of a nonparent household member, the following exceptions apply:
    • A foster parent or caregiver has the option to include or exclude a Foster Care, Adoption Assistance or Permanency Care Assistance (PCA) payment recipient as a household member in the SNAP certified group. Households with more than one recipient can opt to include some Foster Care or PCA recipients while excluding others, even if the Foster Care or PCA recipients are related to each other or related to the foster parent or caregiver. A Foster Care or PCA recipient who is excluded from the Foster Care or PCA applicant’s SNAP certified group is not eligible to participate as a separate SNAP household or as a certified member in another SNAP household.
    • The household may consider a foster child as a boarder instead of a household member.
    • A child under 18 who purchases and prepares food separately can apply separately if the child is:
      • married and living with the spouse; or
      • the parent of a minor child living in the home.
    • A child under 18 living with a SNAP-CAP recipient can apply separately. The minor child is certified as the SNAP head of household.
  • Spouses. Consider spouses as living together when one spouse leaves the home for employment or educational purposes and returns home at least one day a month. A spouse residing with a SNAP-CAP recipient can apply separately. Spouses are people who marry each other, or live together and represent themselves to the community as married. This definition may differ from state laws governing common-law marriage. Consider the following for a same-sex marriage that occurred:
    • before June 26, 2015, the marriage date is considered June 26, 2015; and
    • on or after June 26, 2015, the marriage date is the date it occurred.

Related Policy

Noncommercial Roomer/Boarder Payments, A-1323.4.3
Foster Care and Permanency Care Assistance (PCA) Payments, A-1326.4
Students in Higher Education, B-410
Household Composition, B-475.3

A—232 Who Is Not Included

Revision 15-4; Effective October 1, 2015

A—232.1 Nonmembers

Revision 22-1; Effective January 1, 2022 

SNAP

The following are not included in a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-certified group:

  1. Roomers — Certify a roomer who pays for lodging but not food as a separate household unless the person meets one of the three categories of who is included in a SNAP household, if they live together.
  2. Live-in attendants — Certify a live-in attendant as a separate household, unless the person meets one of the three categories of who to include in a SNAP household, if they live together.
  3. Boarders — Boarders in noncommercial boarding houses cannot receive SNAP separate from the household they live with. Boarders who live in a commercial boarding house cannot participate in SNAP. Note: A foster parent or caretaker has the option to include or exclude a foster child or adult as a SNAP household member.  
  4. Ineligible students — Students in higher education who do not meet the student eligibility criteria.
  5. New household members — Do not add new household members certified in another household to the new EDG until they are removed from the previous EDG. Exception: Residents in shelters for battered persons may receive two allotments in the same month, if the original benefits issued to the former household included the battered persons, the children and the abuser.
  6. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Combined Application Project (SNAP-CAP) participants — Certify people living with an active SNAP-CAP participant as a separate household.
  7. Institutional residents — Residents who are offered more than half their meals from a facility that is not an approved institution. 

Note: Residents of institutions such as homeless shelters, drug and alcohol treatment (D&A) or group living arrangement (GLA) facilities, or family violence shelters are potentially eligible for SNAP, if it is an approved institution. These residents may be certified separately, regardless of how they purchase and prepare meals with other residents. The resident’s SNAP household still includes mandatory required SNAP household members, if they live together.

Common examples of institutions are hospitals, nursing homes, public or private homes for persons with a disability, establishments for delinquents and young offenders, group homes for children, penal and correctional institutions, jails, homeless shelters, and students living in a school dormitory where most meals are provided.

Foster placement agencies place some foster children or adults in homes or facilities other than foster parent homes, and are cared for by people who are employees of, or contract with placement agencies. Such facilities usually house multiple foster children or adults. Foster children or adults who reside in these unapproved institutions rather than in the foster parent’s home, are considered institutionalized and cannot receive SNAP.

Related Policy

Applications from Residents of a Homeless Shelter, A-116.2
Who Is Included, A-231
Noncommercial Roomer/Boarder Payments, A-1323.4.3
Foster Care and Permanency Care Assistance (PCA) Payments, A-1326.4
Students in Higher Education, B-410
Ineligible Students, B-413
Drug and Alcohol Treatment (D&A) or Group Living Arrangement (GLA) Facilities, B-440
Residents in Family Violence Shelters, B-450
Participation Twice in Same Month, B-454
Prepared Meal Services, B-460
Household Composition, B-475.3
Determining Whether a Person Who Resides in a Facility Is Institutionalized, B-490

A—232.2 Disqualified People

Revision 24-2; Effective April 1, 2024

SNAP

The following people would be required SNAP household members but are disqualified. They cannot participate during their disqualification period. However, the disqualified person’s circumstances, income, and resources are considered in determining the household's eligibility and benefit allotment. 

1. Fugitives

People who are fleeing to avoid prosecution of or confinement for a felony criminal conviction, or are found by a court to be violating federal or state probation or parole.

2. People with a felony drug conviction

A person with a felony drug conviction (not deferred adjudication) in Texas or another state occurring Sept. 1, 2015 or after, for the possession, use or distribution of a controlled substance as defined in 102(6) of the Controlled Substance Act [21 USC 802(6)] who:

  • violates a condition of parole or community supervision, incurs a two-year SNAP disqualification; or
  • is convicted of a subsequent felony drug offense in Texas or another state while receiving SNAP, incurs a permanent SNAP disqualification.

The person's statement is accepted as verification of a felony drug conviction.

When electronic data sources show the person was convicted Sept.1, 2015 or after, for an offense involving a controlled substance, discuss the situation with the person and:

  • if they claim not to be the person on the report, but identifying information on the report such as name, date of birth and physical description lead staff to believe using the prudent person principle that the report is correct; or
  • if the person disagrees with other information provided in the report such as the type of conviction or if it was a felony or misdemeanor, 

If unable to clear the discrepancy between the household’s statement and the electronic data sources, staff must: 

  • document the person's response in TIERS case comments;
  • proceed with the appropriate case action without acting on the criminal history report;
  • contact the Texas Office of Inspector General (OIG) by emailing the OIG Benefits Program Integrity (BPI) mailbox; and
  • document the reason for contacting OIG BPI in Case Comments. 

Once OIG BPI receives information to clear the discrepancy, the assigned OIG BPI investigator provides the information by email. Staff responsible for processing this task must document the results of the OIG BPI's findings in TIERS case comments and, if applicable, enter information in the Individual Demographic-Conviction/Rehabilitation page. File an overpayment referral, if appropriate.

3. Intentional Program Violation (IPV)

People disqualified for an IPV in Texas or another state.

4. Noncooperation with SNAP Employment and Training (E&T)

People disqualified for failing to cooperate with E&T requirements.

5. Noncooperation with Social Security number (SSN) requirements

People disqualified for failing to cooperate with SSN requirements.

6. Ineligible Alien

People who do not have eligible alien status to receive benefits.

7. SNAP Able Bodied Adult Without Dependents ABAWD Work Requirement

ABAWDs who have received their initial three months of SNAP benefits and who do not meet the ABAWD work requirement.

Related Policy 

Prudent Person Principle, A-137
Absence of Proof of Alien Status, A-313
Qualified Alien Status Eligibility Charts, A-340
Failure to Comply, A-420
Disqualified Members, A-1362
Noncooperation with E&T, A-1844
ABAWD Work Requirement, A-1940
After the Three Months of Time-Limited SNAP Eligibility, A-1951
Filing an Overpayment Referral, B-770
IPV Disqualification Penalties, B-912