3004-1      ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION TIME FRAMES

3004-1 A.    ONE AWARD PER SEASON

Only one heating assistance grant is awarded per household for applications received during the period that begins October 1 and ends September 30 of each year.

Applications are accepted on the following dates throughout the season:

October 1 through April 30 - All applicants

October 1 through September 30 - SRHUDSubsidized Rental Housing Utility Deposit applicants

October 1 through September 30 - Crisis Assistance applicants

If funding remains at the end of the season, a supplement will be issued to each household receiving benefits before the end of the federal fiscal year.

3004-1 b. pROCESSING TIME FRAMES

1. Heating Assistance

HAPHeating Assistance Program will make an eligibility determination and mail the "Notice of Action" to the applicant within 45 days after receipt of the completed application. See HAP MS 3001-2E for what constitutes a completed application.

2. Crisis Assistance

An applicant in crisis qualifies for an expedited eligibility determination. An eligibility determination will be completed and assistance awarded within 18 hours for life threatening and 48 hours for non-life threatening situations, after receipt of a complete application.

3. Priority Processing

Alaska's vulnerable populations receive priority processing. There are three categories of priority processing:

• Early application mailouts;
• Application processing priority; and
• Additional grant computation point

Early Application Mailouts - Prior year HAPHeating Assistance Program recipients who are considered to be part of Alaska's vulnerable population are sent the current year application before other applicants.

• Older adult or disabled households are mailed a current application between September 23 and September 30;
• Households with children under 6 are mailed a current application between October 1 and October 8; and
• Remaining prior year HAP recipients are mailed a current application between October 11 and October 15.

Application Priority Processing - Households with an older adult or disabled person are prioritized to be worked after expedited applications and before all other applications received.

Additional Grant Computation Point - 1 point is added to the grant computation of households with an older adult, disabled person, and/or a child under 6 years of age. The priority point is limited to 1 per household and is addressed in Step 4 of the grant computation (HAP MS 3004-5).

4.  Subsidized Rental Housing Utility Deposit (SRHUD)

HAPHeating Assistance Program will make an eligibility determination and will authorize SRHUDSubsidized Rental Housing Utility Deposit assistance to an eligible household within 10 days after receipt of the completed application in a DPADivision of Public Assistance office. If the household's income is not clearly indicated in the application and cannot be ascertained through other resources available to HAPHeating Assistance Program, the application will be pended for this information.