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How much assistance can families get through MFIP?

MFIP benefits are a combination of cash and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food benefits.

· The SNAP benefits for MFIP are called the “food portion”.

· Because the benefits are combined, participants are subject to only 1 set of reporting rules and income changes affect the combined benefits.

· Minnesota has a waiver that applies some MFIP policies, instead of SNAP policies, to the MFIP food portion.

The most cash and food a family can receive is if the family has no other income. This is called the “transitional assistance standard” (also sometimes called the “full standard”) and is based on the family size. See Combined Manual 0020.09 (MFIP/DWP Assistance Standards).

What is the MFIP Housing Assistance Grant?

The MFIP Housing Assistance Grant is $110 a month in cash assistance that is in addition to the rest of the MFIP benefits. Not all families qualify for the MFIP Housing Assistance Grant.

Having earned or unearned income does not change the amount of the MFIP Housing Assistance Grant. See Combined Manual 0013.03.09 (MFIP Housing Assistance Grant).

Any month a family receives an MFIP Housing Grant counts toward the 60 month lifetime limit. In order to stop the 60 month clock, see 18.3 (The 60-Month Time Limit Policy) about opting out.

The Housing Assistance grant is not subject to the 10% or 30% sanction, but it does end if there is a 100% sanction.

How does income affect the MFIP benefit amount?

The combination of earned income plus some remaining assistance is always more than the full MFIP benefit by itself.

Not counting all earned income is 1 important element to that formula.

MFIP disregards the first $65 for each eligible wage earner in a household in a month and then disregards 50% of the remaining earnings of all eligible household members in a month. See Combined Manual 0018.18 (Earned Income Disregards), Bulletin 22-11-01 (DHS Reissues “Work Will Always Pay…With MFIP”) (PDF).

For every dollar of unearned income, the MFIP assistance is reduced by a dollar.

The exception is child support payments, which do not fully count:

· Up to $100 of child support will not count for an MFIP household with only 1 child.

· Up to $200 will not count for an MFIP household with 2 or more children.

When participants have income, the cash portion of the MFIP benefit is reduced first and then the food portion.

See Combined Manual 0022.12 (How to Calc. Benefit Level - MFIP/DWP/GA), Bulletin 22-11-01 (DHS Reissues “Work Will Always Pay…With MFIP”) (PDF).