N.J. Admin. Code § 5:49-5.1

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 23, December 2, 2024

Section 5:49-5.1 - Establishment of Home Energy Assistance Units-DCA/CAA

(a) Community Action Agencies (CAAs) and other non-profit agencies shall establish separate Home Energy Assistance units to handle applications and all related program activity. CAAs or other non-profit agencies shall utilize existing staff or additional personnel as required to ensure that all applications are promptly taken, complete with all required information, coded according to Department of Community Affairs (DCA) instructions, transmitted to OIT within the time limits established in 5:49-4.1(e), and that all required verification is documented in the case record.

(b) CAAs or other non-profit agencies must also comply with the following requirements:

1. Accept and process home energy assistance applications at any other office designated by the CAA or other non-profit agency to accept HEA applications;

2. Accept and process applications from elderly and disabled households which elect to apply by mail;

3. Provide home visits to accept applications from those households which are not eligible to apply by mail but cannot apply in person at the CAA or other non-profit agency (e.g., ill, bedridden, those for whom access to the CAA or other non-profit agency is difficult due to remoteness);

4. Provide communication assistance to persons with limited English speaking ability, impaired hearing, vision or speech impairments, and to persons who are illiterate to insure such persons are advised of the existence of the program, their right to apply and their fair hearing rights;

5. Provide adverse action notices to those households whose payments are held by the CAA or other non-profit agency in accordance with (b)6 below;

6. Review all payments issued by DCA to ensure that payments are not issued to ineligible households or that households have not exceeded the maximum benefit established in Federal regulations.

N.J. Admin. Code § 5:49-5.1

Emergency Amendment, R.1985 d.539, effective 10/28/1985 (operative November 1, 1985, expires December 27, 1985).
See: 17 N.J.R. 2791(a).
"transmitted" substituted for "forwarded."
Readopted amendment R.1985 d.708, effective 12/24/1985.
See: 17 N.J.R. 2791(a), 18 N.J.R. 194(a).
Emergency amendment R.1997 d.149, effective 2/25/1997 (to expire April 26, 1997).
See: 29 N.J.R. 940(a).
In (a), substituted "Community Action Agencies (CAAs) and other non-profit agencies" for "County Welfare Agencies (CWAs)", "Department of Community Affairs (DCA)" for "Division of Family Development (DFD)", and "DCA" for "DFD"; in (b)1, substituted "HEA" for "Food Stamp"; in (b)6, substituted "DCA" for "DFD"; and substituted references to CAA or other non-profit agencies for references to CWA throughout.
Adopted concurrent proposal, R.1997 d.207, effective 4/25/1997.
See: 29 N.J.R. 940(a), 29 N.J.R. 2473(a).
Amended by R.2005 d.130, effective 5/2/2005.
See: 37 N.J.R. 18(a), 37 N.J.R. 1518(b).
In (a), substituted "OIT" for "DCA" preceding "within the time limits" in the second sentence.