Food policy for Housing Support recipients residing in licensed assisted living facilities

People residing in a licensed assisted living facility may be eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). People in these settings may receive fewer than 50% of their meals from the facility and remain eligible for SNAP. The assisted living license requires assisted living facilities to allow residents to choose not to participate in the facility’s meal plan. Each facility should have a process allowing residents to opt out of some or all meals. In assisted living facilities, the requirement for the Housing Support provider to ensure three meals per day can be met from different sources: from the facility, SNAP, meal delivery service, or any combination. If the person receives Medical Assistance (MA) services in an assisted living setting and wants to opt out of meals, additional guidance may be needed before determining SNAP eligibility. Contact SNAP policy staff with questions at DHS.SNAP-POLICY.QA@state.mn.us.

Even when a person is eligible for SNAP in an assisted living facility, the person may not receive enough food support to cover food expenses for the month. The provider remains responsible for ensuring people are receiving three nutritious meals per day.

Best practices

In order to ensure people have access to three nutritious meals per day, there are some additional things to consider when a person is interested in opting out of an assisted living food plan:

• The Housing Support provider should help a person understand all their options regarding food resources. If a person wants to opt out of the facility meal plan, they should be informed that they can:
• Keep one facility meal per day (or 10 or fewer meals per week) and remain eligible for SNAP
• Receive food from the facility, SNAP, food shelves, family/friends, Meals on Wheels, or any other local food resources available
• Receive information on how to opt back into the facility meal plan
• Opt back into the facility meal plan if they choose to do so
• If a person wants to opt back into the meal plan, they need to inform the county or tribe that they are terminating SNAP benefits, if applicable.
• There are no limits on how often a person can opt out and back into the facility meal plan.
• However, access to SNAP is meant to be a sustained way for a person to meet their nutritional needs. If a person is opting out of the meal plan more than once, the provider should engage with the person to understand why their food needs are not being sustained using either the facility meal plan or SNAP.

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