R986-400-402. General Provisions

  (1) GA provides temporary financial assistance to single persons and married couples who have no dependent children residing with them 50% or more of the time and who have a physical or mental health impairment that prevents basic work activities in any occupation. This means that the applicant or client is unable to work any number of hours at all in any occupation.

  (2) The impairment must be expected to last at least 60 days after the date of application.

  (3) Drug addiction and/or alcoholism alone is insufficient to meet the impairment requirement for GA as defined in Public Law 104-121.

  (4) Married couples meet the impairment criteria and time limits on an individual basis. If the household includes an ineligible spouse, the income and assets of the ineligible spouse must be counted when determining the eligibility of the household and the ineligible spouse will not be included in the financial payment. The household can consist of any combination of impaired, non-impaired, short term disabled, or long term disabled as long as at least one spouse meets the eligibility requirements.

  (5) GA is only available to a client who is at least 18 years old or legally or factually emancipated. Factual emancipation means the client has lived independently from his or her parents or guardians and has been economically self-supporting for a period of at least twelve consecutive months, and the client's parents have refused financial support.

  (6) A client claiming factual emancipation must cooperate with the Department in locating his or her parents. The parents, once located, will be contacted by the Department. If the parents continue to refuse to support the client, a referral will be made to ORS to enforce the parents' child support obligations.

  (7) A person eligible for Bureau of Indian Affairs assistance is not eligible for GA financial assistance.

  (8) In addition to the residency requirements in R986-100-106, residents in a group home that is administered under a contract with a governmental unit or administered by a governmental unit are not eligible for financial assistance.

  (9) An individual receiving SSI is not eligible for GA. This ineligibility includes persons whose SSI is in suspense status, has been terminated, or who is not eligible for SSI due to the imposition of a penalty as defined by 20 CFR Part 416.1320 through 416.1340. An individual whose SSI benefits are suspended because he or she has not attained U.S. citizenship, may be eligible for GA if the individual actively pursues U.S. citizenship to regain SSI eligibility. If SSI was terminated because the client's disability ended, the client may be eligible for GA if an unrelated physical or mental health condition develops and is verified.