752-5          LUXURY ITEMS

The equity value of luxury items, household goods and personal effects not essential to day-to-day life, are countable resources.  Unless an applicant or recipient states otherwise, or there is other clear evidence to the contrary, the case worker will assume that the client has no luxury items with high enough value to affect eligibility.  Luxury items that may count against the resource limit are defined as any household item that has a face value of $1,000 or more and in the prudent judgment of the case worker is not essential to day-to-day living.  These qualifications are best defined by examples:

1. Entertainment devices such as stereo sets, personal computers or video games, TVs, musical instruments,chess sets, home movie or still cameras, model train layouts, etc. are automatically excluded on the grounds that entertainment is an essential part of day-to-day life.  Most entertainment items have value consistent with usage and most such items tend to have fairly high new purchase prices but proportionally very low resale or equity value. 

2. Items of personal apparel of unusual value must be considered almost exclusively by usage and  "essentialness”. 

3. Antique household furniture that is not stored away may be exempted by assuming it is performing the daily function of similar non-valuable furniture.  Family silver, samovars, or other rare-metal service items are excluded if they are being used at a frequency appropriate to their original purpose. 

4. Any set of items that common definition would call a collection that has a face value of over $1,000 will count as a resource.  It is not essential to day-to-day life and is not primarily used for entertainment.  Examples include collections of guns, stamps, coins, baseball trading cards, matchbook covers, moustache cups, china plates, Avon bottles, antique toys, etc. 

5. Religious articles such as religious jewelry, prompt books or Bibles, crucifixes, or Russian orthodox iconographics are exempt.

6. New or antique jewelry with a face value of over $1,000 is exempt only if it is habitually worn daily or almost every day. 

7. Decorative objects of art such as paintings, statuary, blankets, masks, carvings, etc. are only exempt if they were made by a person whose relationship to the ATAPAlaska Temporary Assistance Program client would qualify as a TATemporary Assistance caretaker relative, or the item(s) has an important cultural significance to a client’s clan, village, ethnic, or racial community such that the client is in effect standing as caretaker or agent of the community and is not free to dispose of the item without suffering personal or social consequences for violating established written or unwritten laws or rules.