Living Situation

A family is considered to be experiencing homelessness for the Child Care Assistance Program if the Living Situation on the application is:

Do not question the family’s choice of Living Situation and do not request verification of the family’s Living Situation.

If the Living Situation question is “Unknown” or “Declined,” no follow up is required and the family is not eligible for expedited child care. The application does not need to be processed within five business days. However, if information submitted during the application processing period shows that the family’s Living Situation meets one of the items above at the date of application, the family would be eligible for expedited child care policies.

If the Living Situation question on the application is left blank or the “temporarily sharing housing due to loss of housing, lack of affordable housing or similar reasons” is left blank for a family who selected “family/friends due to economic hardship”, follow up with the family to determine if the family qualifies for policies available to family’s experiencing homelessness. The application does not need to be processed within five business days.

If the Living Situation is already coded because it’s active in MAXIS, ensure that the Living Situation matches the Living Situation on the CCAP application. If not, change the Living Situation in MEC2 to match what is on the CCAP application.

Note: If the Living Situation initially entered at application needs to be changed to a living situation that is considered homeless, a patch may be required to ensure policies are applied correctly. Contact your agency’s policy specialist.

See Chapter 2 (Glossary) for the definition of homeless.

Timeframe for processing applications

If a family experiencing homelessness appears eligible, process the application within five business days from the date of receipt.

If a family experiencing homelessness does not appear eligible or it is unknown if the family is eligible, process the application within 30 calendar days from the date of receipt. You may extend the processing time to 45 calendar days if the applicant is informed of the extension.

Examples of when a family may not appear eligible, or it may be unknown if they are eligible include:

Reviewing and processing applications

To process the application:

Review the submitted application to determine if the application is complete. The CCAP application asks for most information using questions that are left blank if the question does not apply to the family.

Process the application with all known information at the time of application:

If eligibility is unknown:

If eligible:

If ineligible:

Retroactive Eligibility

If a family eligible for expedited child care applies for MFIP or Transition Year child care and requests retroactive care, approve Eligibility and Service Authorization from the date the application is received without verifications. Once verifications are received to document eligibility for the retroactive period, send manual Service Authorizations using DHS-6217A (Child Care Assistance Notice of Decision - Service Authorization for families) (PDF) and DHS-6217B (Child Care Assistance Notice of Decision - Service Authorization for providers) (PDF) and send manual billing form(s) for the retroactive period using DHS-5523 (Child Care Assistance Billing Form) (PDF). Issue manual payments to pay for eligible care during the retroactive time periods. See Chapter 4.18 (Date of Eligibility).

Subsequent applications

Expedited child care is limited to no more than once every six months. After the three months of expedited child care plus the 90-day Temporary Ineligible period, a family experiencing homelessness who reapplies can be approved using expedited child care policies.

Example: An application on 10/1/2020 is approved eligible for expedited child care through 1/1/2021 (three months). Eligibility continues through the end of the biweekly period to 1/10/2021. If eligibility requirements are not met by 1/10/2021, the case is put into Temporary Ineligible (TI) status until approximately 4/10/2021 (90 days). During the Temporary Ineligible period, a new application is not required. The family must meet the requirements to move out of the Temporary Ineligible period. See 8.6 Temporary Ineligibility. If the case closes because the family did not meet eligibility requirements before the end of the Temporary Ineligible period, (after 4/10/2021, six months from the initial application) the family can submit a new application and be approved for expedited child care.

Legal authority

Minnesota Statutes 142E.03, subd. 1
Minnesota Rules 3400.0035, subp. 2a