Poverty Law 1
General Assistance Categorical Eligibility Exercises
Adjunct Professor Monica Bogucki
2017 Copyright Monica Bogucki
Please read and discuss the following examples. Review the categories of General Assistance eligibility in Minnesota Statutes section 256D.05. Please determine which categories each client may meet and what verification the client may need.
Case 1
Jim is 57 years-old and has been homeless the past 10 years. He sporadically worked as a general laborer in construction. He has been transient most of his life. He has a 10th grade education but is illiterate. His right foot is permanently numb because of severe frostbite. He is unable to stand for long periods of time.
Jim does not trust people. He has a hard time connecting with other people. After talking with him for a while, you find out that he was severely beaten as a child. He never received medical attention for his injuries and those injuries still cause him physical problems. Jim left home when he was 15 years-old and never returned.
His Supplemental Security disability case is on appeal.
Case 2
Tim is 49 years-old and is homeless. Tim is a veteran. He still dreams about the war and wakes up with the sweats at night. One of his duties was washing the blood from the helicopters that carried the wounded or dead soldiers. He has a hard time sleeping and concentrating. Tim has used drugs and alcohol for the last twenty-five years. He just finished a drug and alcohol treatment program and is in a “fragile state of recovery.” He used drugs and alcohol to self-medicate. His chemical dependency counselors told him that he may have post traumatic stress disorder but he has never been evaluated for this. He has had only temporary jobs over the last 15 years.
Case 3
Mary is 54 years-old. She has been a homemaker all of her adult life. All of her three children are adults. She has been married more than thirty years and is recently separated from her husband. She has two years of college but never completed her degree because she became pregnant with her first child while she was in college. She has a severe form of arthritis and has periods of exacerbation. These periods are unpredictable but last for up to 50% of the month.
She is in the process of finding a family law attorney. Her husband is currently paying the home mortgage and utilities, but has refused to pay anything else. Her husband took all of the money from their checking and savings accounts. She does not have access to any of their assets.
Case 4
Theresa is 60 years old. She is a single woman with no children. Her mother, Marie, is 85 years-old. Last year Theresa and Marie decided that Theresa would live in Marie’s home to care for Marie rather than having Marie goes to a nursing home.