Section 218-RICR-20-00-1.21 - Replacement of Food Caused by Disaster or Household MisfortuneA. In cases in which food purchased with SNAP benefits is destroyed in a disaster or household misfortune affecting a participating household, that household may be eligible for replacement of the actual value of loss, not to exceed one (1) month's SNAP allotment, if the loss is reported verbally or in writing within ten (10) days and the household's disaster is verified with a signed and completed DHS SNAP-55 form within ten (10) days from the reported date of the loss. 1. This provision applies in cases of an individual household disaster or misfortune, as well as in natural disasters affecting more than one (1) household.2. Examples of household misfortune include: a. Extended power outage of four (4) hours or morec. An equipment failure (refrigerator/freezer)d. Loss of electricity due to failure to pay a utility bill3. The household must provide verification of the food loss.a. Prior to issuing a replacement, the agency shall obtain a signed statement from a member of the household attesting to the household's loss.b. If the statement is not received by the agency within ten (10) days of the date of report, no replacement shall be made.(1) If the tenth (10th) day falls on a weekend or holiday, and the statement is received the day after the weekend or holiday, the agency shall consider the statement timely received.(2) It shall attest to the destruction of food purchased with the original issuance and the reason for the replacement.c. This shall be verified through a collateral contact, documentation from a community agency including, but not limited to, the fire department or the Red Cross, a note from a landlord or the power company attesting to an outage or other event.4. A household may not make more than one (1) request for replacement benefits for the same incident of loss.a. However, there is no limit to the amount of replacement requests a household can make for separate incidents of household misfortune or disaster.5. In cases where FNS has issued a disaster declaration and the household is otherwise eligible for emergency SNAP benefits in accordance with § 1.19 of this Part, the household must not receive both the disaster allotment and a replacement allotment.B. Mass Replacements 1. When there is a wide-spread storm or power outage, the agency may apply for and receive a waiver from the FNS allowing for an automated mass replacement of a percentage of SNAP benefits for households in designated cities and towns.a. These designated cities/towns will receive an automatic replacement of a percentage of their SNAP benefits.b. They are not required to submit a statement of food loss, nor are they required to verify their food loss.c. Replacement benefits will automatically be issued and applied to the household's EBT account.d. If a household submits a food replacement request after receiving a mass replacement and requests an amount greater than the replacement benefit amount received, the household is entitled to receive the difference between the requested amount and the amount previously replaced (up to the total monthly SNAP benefit allotment for that month).218 R.I. Code R. 218-RICR-20-00-1.21
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