County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency HHSA CalFresh Program Guide Replacement Benefits Number Page 63509 1 of 2 Date 03012021 BackgroundCustomers that experience certain household misfortunes such as a power outage fire or disaster may lose food that was purchased with CalFresh benefits Replacement benefits are available to help customers replace food that was lost due to a households misfortune PurposeThis section details the policy for replacement of benefits Policy Households can request replacement of benefits when food purchased with CalFresh benefits is destroyed or damaged due to a household misfortune or a disaster occurs A request for replacement benefits must be made within 10 days of the food loss Replacement benefits must be issued within 2 days of the request a delay of seven additional days may be made when information is questionable and further clarification or verification is needed 1 CF 303 Replacement or Disaster Supplement Affidavit After a household or Authorized Representative AR contacts staff to report the food loss and request replacement benefits staff must provide the CF 303 Replacement or Disaster Supplement Affidavit form as soon as possible Households may be provided the CF 303 in person or by mail if it is requested by phone and an electronic version is not available to the household NOTE The CF 303 Replacement or Disaster Supplement Affidavit form is the only form that must be completed by the customer when requesting the replacement of benefits 2 Timely Submission of CF 303 Replacement or Disaster Supplement Affidavit The household has ten days from the date they reported the loss to return the signed CF 303 Replacement or Disaster Supplement Affidavit form The signed form may be returned in person by mail by fax or through the households online benefits portal If the tenth day falls on a weekend or holiday and the CF 303 is received the business day after the weekend or holiday it will be considered timely If the signed form is not received within ten days from the date of the reported food loss no replacement benefits will be issued 3 Verification Verify the households misfortune Verification methods include but are not limited to using a collateral contact obtaining documentation from a community agency such as the Red Cross a utility company or the fire department or possibly conducting a home visit if applicable Verification of disaster situations or mass power outages impacting entire zip codes will be shared with staff when available 4 Processing the Benefit Replacement Staff must complete and image desk aid Affidavit of Loss to make sure all the required information is captured The amount of benefits replaced will be the amount of food purchased with the CalFresh allotment that the customer lost but cannot exceed more than one months maximum allotment Refer to Howto 311 for instructions on the issuance of replacement benefits 5 Multiple Replacement Requests There are no limits to the number of replacements households may request or receive in the same month if food is lost in a household misfortune For multiple replacement requests resulting from the same household misfortune occurring in the same month the cumulative issuance cannot exceed the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency HHSA CalFresh Program Guide Replacement Benefits Number Page 63509 2 of 2 households maximum monthly allotment For multiple requests resulting from separate household misfortunes occurring in the same month each replacement request must be treated independently from the other The cumulative total of the multiple replacements may exceed the households maximum monthly allotment depending on the scenario Single Household Misfortune Example A customer experiences a total loss of food purchased with CalFresh benefits at the beginning of the month The next day the customer reports the food loss and receives a replacement of 50 of their monthly CalFresh allotment Three days later the customer requests an additional replacement to cover the total loss of food The customer receives a replacement for the remaining 50 of their monthly CalFresh allotment Multiple Household Misfortune Example A customer reports a loss of food purchased with CalFresh benefits at the beginning of the month The customer receives a replacement of 60 of their monthly CalFresh allotment Near the end of the month the customer experiences another separate household misfortune and reports a loss of food including some of the food purchased with the original replacement The customer receives a replacement of 70 of their monthly CalFresh allotment Since there were multiple misfortunes and an individual request for each event the cumulative total of the multiple replacements for that month may exceed the maximum monthly allotment for that household 6 Notices Notify the household of the approval or denial of the request by sending manual Notice of Action NOA 0990 HHSA Notice of ApprovalDenial for Replacement of Food Purchased with CalFresh Image a copy of the NOA into the case file References MPP 900 MPP 63630 ACL 2115 ACL 1995 ACL 18125 ACL 87158 HT311 Issue Replacement CalFresh Benefits RFSP Sunset Date This policy will be reviewed for continuance by 03312024 Approval for Release RICK WANNE Director SelfSufficiency Services