N.Y. Social Services Law § 158 (2026)

§ 158. Eligibility. 1. A person is eligible for safety net assistance
who is financially needy as determined in accordance with title one of
this article and the regulations promulgated thereunder, is not in
sanction status for a program authorized by this chapter and:
  (a) resides in a family which is ineligible for family assistance or
other assistance funded by the federal temporary assistance for needy
families block grant because an adult in the family has exceeded the
maximum durational limits on such assistance contained in section three
hundred fifty of this chapter, or
  (b) is an adult who would otherwise be eligible for family assistance
except that he or she does not reside with a dependent child, or
  (c) resides in a family that would otherwise be eligible for family
assistance except that at least one adult or minor head of household has
been determined in accordance with section one hundred thirty-two of
this article to be abusing illegal substances or engaging in the
habitual and excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, or
  (d) is under the age of eighteen, not living with his or her child and
has no adult relatives with whom to reside, or
  (e) resides in a family in which a person required to submit to
screening or evaluation for use of illegal drugs or excess alcohol
consumption pursuant to section one hundred thirty-two of this article
refused to comply, or
  (f) resides in a family which includes a person disqualified from
receiving assistance pursuant to paragraph (f) of subdivision four of
section one hundred thirty-two of this article, or
  (g) is a qualified alien who is ineligible to receive assistance
funded under the temporary assistance for needy families block grant
solely because of section four hundred three of the federal personal
responsibility and work opportunity reconciliation act of 1996 (P.L.
104-193) or is a noncitizen who is permanently residing under color of
law but is not a qualified alien.
  2. A person who shall be eligible for family assistance according to
the provisions of title ten of this article shall be granted family
assistance and while receiving such aid shall not be eligible for safety
net assistance. A person who is receiving federal supplemental security
income payments and/or additional state payments shall not be eligible
for safety net assistance. A person who is eligible for refugee cash
assistance pursuant to the plan established pursuant to section three
hundred fifty-eight of this article shall not be eligible for safety net
assistance. An applicant for or recipient of safety net assistance shall
be required, as a condition of eligibility for safety net assistance, to
sign a written authorization allowing the secretary of the federal
department of health and human services to pay to the social services
district his or her initial supplemental security income payment and
allowing the social services district to deduct from his or her initial
payment the amount of safety net assistance granted for any month for
which he or she subsequently is determined eligible to receive
supplemental security income benefits. For the purposes of this
subdivision the term "initial payment" shall refer to the first payment
of supplemental security income benefits after a person files an
application for benefits or after a person who has been terminated or
suspended from eligibility for supplemental security income benefits
subsequently has been found eligible for such benefits. An applicant for
safety net assistance who reasonably appears to meet the criteria for
eligibility for federal supplemental security income payments shall also
be required, as a condition of eligibility for safety net assistance, to
apply for such payments and shall, if otherwise eligible therefor, be
eligible for safety net assistance until he or she has received a
federal supplemental security income payment. Further, if an applicant
for safety net assistance is required to apply for federal supplemental
security payments and is denied, such person shall, subject to
department regulation, also be required as a condition of eligibility to
appeal his or her denial and exhaust his or her administrative remedies;
such person shall remain eligible for safety net assistance, so long as
he or she otherwise remains eligible while his or her appeal is pending.
  3. A person shall not be eligible for safety net assistance who has
made a voluntary assignment or transfer of property for the purpose of
qualifying for such aid. A transfer of property made within one year of
the date of application shall be presumed to have been made for the
purpose of qualifying for such assistance.
  4. Social services officials shall determine eligibility for safety
net assistance within thirty days of receiving an application for safety
net assistance. Such officials shall notify applicants of safety net
assistance about the availability of assistance to meet emergency
circumstances or to prevent eviction.
  5. Application for or receipt of safety net assistance shall operate
as an assignment to the state and the social services district concerned
of any rights to support that accrue during the period that a family
receives safety net assistance from any other person as such applicant
or recipient may have either on their own behalf or on behalf of any
other family member for whom the applicant or recipient is applying for
or receiving assistance. Applicants for or recipients of safety net
assistance shall be informed that such application for or receipt of
such benefits will constitute such an assignment. Such assignment shall
terminate with respect to current support rights upon a determination by
the social services district that such person is no longer eligible for
safety net assistance, except with respect to the amount of any unpaid
support obligation that has accrued during the period that a family
received safety net assistance.
  6. In addition to other eligibility requirements, each person who is
applying for or receiving assistance under this title, and who is
otherwise eligible for assistance under this title, shall be required,
as a further condition of eligibility for such assistance:
  (i) to assign to the state and the social services district any rights
to support that accrue during the period that a family receives safety
net assistance from any other person as such applicant or recipient may
have either on their own behalf or on behalf of any other family member
for whom the applicant or recipient is applying for or receiving
assistance; and
  (ii) to cooperate with the state and the social services official, in
accordance with standards established by regulations of the office of
temporary and disability assistance consistent with federal law and
regulations, in establishing the paternity of a child born
out-of-wedlock for whom assistance under this title is being applied for
or received, in their efforts to locate any absent parent and in
obtaining support payments or any other payments or property due such
person and due each child for whom assistance under this title is being
applied for or received, except that an applicant or recipient shall not
be required to cooperate in such efforts in cases in which the social
services official has determined, in accordance with criteria, including
the best interests of the child, as established by regulations of the
office of temporary and disability assistance consistent with federal
law and regulations, that such applicant or recipient has good cause to
refuse to cooperate. Each social services district shall inform
applicants for and recipients of safety net assistance required to
cooperate with the state and local social services officials pursuant to
the provisions of this paragraph, that where a proceeding to establish
paternity has been filed, and the allegation of paternity has been
denied by the respondent, there shall be a stay of all paternity
proceedings and related social services district proceedings until sixty
days after the birth of the child. Such applicants and recipients shall
also be informed that public assistance and care shall not be denied
during a stay on the basis of refusal to cooperate pursuant to the
provisions of this paragraph.
  7. As a condition of eligibility for the receipt of safety net
assistance, every applicant for such assistance must:
  (i) sign an agreement which provides that, if it is determined that
money is owed to the social services district because of overpayments of
safety net assistance to the applicant while a recipient of safety net
assistance, the applicant agrees to repay any such money that remains
due after the applicant ceases to receive safety net assistance; and
  (ii) sign an assignment of future earnings on a form prescribed by the
department to secure the repayment of any money that is determined,
after providing the opportunity for a fair hearing in accordance with
section twenty-two of this chapter, to be owed to the social services
district because of overpayments of safety net assistance to the
applicant while a recipient of safety net assistance. The prescribed
form shall include the following notice: "THIS AGREEMENT AUTHORIZES THE
SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICT TO RECOVER ANY OVERPAYMENT OF YOUR PUBLIC
ASSISTANCE BENEFITS BY COLLECTING THE AMOUNT OF THE OVERPAYMENT DIRECTLY
FROM YOUR FUTURE WAGES. IF YOU FAIL TO MAKE THE PAYMENTS REQUIRED BY A
REPAYMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND THE SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICT, THE
SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICT WILL FILE THIS AGREEMENT WITH YOUR EMPLOYER AND
RECOVER THE OVERPAYMENT DIRECTLY FROM YOUR WAGES." In addition, the
assignment of future earnings and the enforcement thereof must comply
with all requirements of article three-A of the personal property law.
The social services district may file the assignment of future earnings
with the employer of the assignor only if the assignor fails to make
payments of money owed to the social services district in accordance
with the agreement required in paragraph (i) of this subdivision.
  8. No person who resides with his or her minor child shall be eligible
for safety net assistance except as provided in subdivision one of this
section.