Public Benefits Automatic Extension, Waivers, Access

• District of Columbia
• Washington
• Food
• Health

As part of the COVID-19 Response Emergency Amendment Act of 2020, the Council of the District of Columbia has granted Mayor Bowser the power to extend the eligibility period for individuals receiving benefits and the timeframe for determinations of new applications, as well as the power to take any other actions the Mayor deems appropriate to support the continuity of, and access to, any public benefit program. Affected programs include, but are not limited to, the DC Healthcare Alliance (“Alliance”), Immigrant Children’s Program (“ICP”), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (“TANF”), and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (“SNAP”).

Customers who receive SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, Alliance, and other public benefits provided by the Department of Human Services (“DHS”) do not need to take any action at this time to continue receiving existing benefits that would otherwise have expired, these benefits will be automatically extended and will continue during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) State of Emergency.

Additionally, in response to COVID-19, waivers to eligibility requirements have been granted and supplemental benefits have been provided:

SNAP: As of April 1, 2020, D.C. was approved to provide emergency allotments (“EA”) of SNAP benefits in order to increase existing SNAP households’ monthly benefits to the maximum allotment for the household size. This means that SNAP households that are not already receiving the maximum monthly benefit will receive temporary allotments to bring their monthly benefits up to the maximum amount. For more information click here. Theses emergency allotments will continue through July and are approved to continue each month contingent on D.C. submitting requested information to the Food and Nutrition Service (“FNS”) Regional SNAP contact, click here for more details.

Also, effective as of May 13, 2020, D.C. launched the SNAP Online Purchasing Program. Through this program SNAP participants may shop across three online grocery options including Amazon, Amazon Pantry, and Amazon Fresh. For more information click here, and for answers to FAQs click here.

Finally, many waivers have been granted to this program including but not limited to: Telephone Interview Flexibility, which allows interviews to be conducted over the telephone in lieu of face-to face-interviews for SNAP Quality Control purposes; Adjusting Interview Requirements Due to Novel Coronavirus, which includes not requiring a household to complete an interview prior to approval—provided the applicant’s identity has been verified and all other mandatory verifications, not requiring face-to-face interviews at application or recertification, not requiring households that are eligible for expedited service to complete an interview prior to approval—provided that an applicant’s identity has been identified and an attempt has been made to contact the household for an interview; Telephonic Signature, which allows for a client to verbally attested to the information provided on the application.

FNS has denied the request to extend the waivers, regarding Initial Certification and Recertification Interviews, and to Extend Certification Periods and Adjust Reporting Requirements, into July (see here, and here for further details).

WIC: Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (“WIC”) has been granted a number of waivers as well, including but not limited to: a physical presence waiver, which waives that requirement that applicants or participants trying to re-enroll be physically present at their certification appointments and allows for postponement of certain medical tests; remote benefits issuance waiver, which waives the requirement that participants have to come into the clinic to pick up WIC EBT cards and/or paper coupons; food package substitution waiver, which allows participants to substitute milk and yogurt of any available fat content despite the designation of their food package; infants 9–11 months receiving a cash value voucher for fresh fruits and vegetables to substitute canned and/or frozen fruits and vegetables with no added sugar, fats, oils or salt; participants to substitute hard boiled eggs for fresh eggs despite the designation of their food package; and participants to substitute authorized whole grains in package sizes up to 24 oz. when 16 oz. packages are unavailable, click here for the WIC expanded food list; medical documentation waiver, which allows WIC agencies to extend existing benefits to supplemental foods for qualifying conditions beyond the previous two-month time limit without additional medical documentation; which have all been extended through June 30, 2020, for details click here.

Child Nutrition Programs: Pandemic-EBT (“P-EBT”) provides food assistance to families of children who receive meals under the National School Lunch Program (“NSLP”). Families who are already participating in SNAP or TANF will have P-EBT benefits automatically added onto the household’s EBT card. To learn more about these benefits visit the P-EBT Information Page, or for additional information check the Pandemic EBT summary or click here.

Government or Lead Agency

D.C. Department of Human Services

D.C. Department of Health

D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education

Dates Available

Automatic Extension – Residents do not need to take any action at this time to continue receiving existing benefits provided by DHS that would otherwise expire during the State of Emergency

SNAP Emergency Allotment and Waivers – emergency allotment and face-to-face interview waivers approved through September 2020, and initial and recertification interview waivers approved through August 2020

WIC Extensions and Waivers – approved through July 2020

Eligibility Requirements/Restrictions

Applicable to those apply for and already receiving benefits

Application Deadlines (If Applicable)

N/A

Contact for More Information

To contact the Department of Human Services, call (202) 727-5355 or visit https://dhs.dc.gov/

To contact the Department of Health, call (202) 442-9397 or email doh@dc.gov

To contact the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, call (202) 727-6436 or email osse@dc.gov

List of Additional Information

For more information on waivers and approvals click here.

For answers to FAQs about public benefits during the COVID-19 public health emergency please click here.

For new applications for SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, or Alliance benefits, click here, or apply here.