Mount Vernon Center
100 East First Street
Mount Vernon, NY 10550-3442
914-813-6164
Peekskill Center
750 Washington Street
Peekskill, NY
10566-5499
914-862-5078
White Plains Center
85 Court Street
White Plains, NY
10601-4201
914-995-5889
Yonkers Center
131 Warburton Avenue
Yonkers, NY
10701
914-231-2000
Normal business hours in the four centers are from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Monday through Friday, except holidays. Emergency needs after 5:00 PM and
on weekends and holidays are handled by an Emergency Services Team located
in the White Plains Center.
If you or your other adult household members are determined by DSS to
be capable of working, you and those adult household members must be
working or involved in work-like activities within two years of receiving
Family Assistance. Your local Department of Social Services office can
also determine that your household needs to work sooner then the two-year
limit.
If you or a household member has a psychiatric condition and feel that
this may interfere with your ability to work, you may want to apply for
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability (SSD).
Please click here for additional information about
SSI or here for additional information about SSD.
If you do not fit the criteria for Family Assistance, there are other
benefits that you may be able to receive under the New York State Welfare
Reform Act of 1997.
Safety Net Assistance (SN)
The Safety Net (SN) assistance
program replaces the former Home Relief program. Safety Net provides
help to you or to you and your family if you are not eligible for Family
Assistance but still meet poverty guidelines. Safety Net Assistance is
for:
- Single adults
- Childless couples
- Children living apart from any adult relative
- Families of persons abusing drugs or alcohol
- Families of persons refusing drug/alcohol screening, assessment or
treatment
- Persons who have exceeded the 60-month limit on assistance
- Aliens who are eligible for public assistance but who are not
eligible for federal reimbursement
Individuals can receive Safety Net assistance in cash for a maximum
of two years in a lifetime. After that, if eligibility continues, it
will be provided in non-cash form. Income qualifications and limits are
complex, so please consult your local DSS service center whose address
and phone number are shown above. For general
questions regarding Safety Net Assistance, please visit http://www.westchestergov.com/social/otfs/safety.htm.
Emergency Assistance to Families (EAF)
This benefit helps
you or a family member deal with a crisis and emergency situation that
is beyond you or your family member’s control. Such needs could include
cash assistance with evictions, homelessness, fuel for heating, utility
disconnects, or a family violence situation.
To be eligible for EAF, either as part of your ongoing public
assistance or for one-time assistance, your household has to meet one of
these criteria:
- Your family must have a child under age 18, or a child under age
19 who attends secondary school regularly.
- Your child for whom EAF is provided must be living with an
eligible relative currently or within the past 12 months.
- If you or a family member has been medically verified as pregnant,
but you have no other children, you may receive EAF if your family is
otherwise eligible for public assistance.
Please call your local DSS office at the phone numbers above to find
out more about EAF.
Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP)
HEAP is a
federally-funded program administered by the Westchester County Department of Social Services
that assists eligible, low-income, elderly and disabled persons with
their home heating costs. The program can provide you with cash grants
to help pay your heating bills or to provide funds for residential
weatherization and other energy-related home repairs.
HEAP assistance is available if you rent or own your own home. If you
live in any subsidized housing, in order to be eligible for HEAP, you
must pay for your own heat. The level of assistance depends on your
household income, the rent you pay and your source of heat. If you pay a
utility bill, the HEAP payment is sent directly to the utility company.
You can also receive one-time emergency HEAP benefits. They are
provided for eligible applicants when these criteria are met:
- An emergency must be heat-related, and utility service must be
disconnected currently or scheduled for disconnection, or the
household is without heating fuel, or the household has a heating fuel
supply that will last less than seven days of requesting assistance
and/or heating equipment needs repair.
- If an applicant heats by oil and the oil is due to be disconnected
and the electricity is needed to run the heating equipment, this is
called "heat related" and the applicant would be entitled to an
emergency benefit.
- Benefits are targeted to households containing members who are
elderly, disabled or children under eight years of age.
If you are on TANF Assistance and Food Stamps, you can apply for HEAP
at your local Westchester County DSS Service Center whose address and
phone number are shown above. For general
questions regarding HEAP, you can call 914-995-5619.
If you are over the age of 60, permanently disabled or receiving SSI,
you can apply for HEAP Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM at the
Westchester County Department of Senior Programs and Services http://www.co.westchester.ny.us/aging/
located at:
9 South First Avenue, 10th floor
Mount Vernon, NY
10550-3414
914-813-6300
If you don’t fit in to any of the above categories, you can apply for
HEAP at one of the local Westchester Community Opportunity Program
(WestCop) offices, or contact them for information at 914-592-5600.
Food Stamps You may also be eligible for food stamps. For
further information on food stamps, click here.
What Is the Benefit?
You may receive temporary cash or non-cash assistance or have payments
made directly to your utility company.
When Do The Benefits Apply?
Under Family Assistance, you can only receive benefits for a total of
sixty months in your lifetime, including TANF assistance from other states
where you have lived. Each month you receive TANF benefits is included in
the lifetime count of sixty. Once that limit is reached, your household is
no longer eligible to receive Family Assistance benefits.
Periodically during the time you are receiving Family Assistance
benefits you will be required to prove you are still eligible.
How Do I Apply For the Benefit?
You can apply for any of the benefits described above at your local DSS
service center. You will be given an appointment date for an interview,
and you will be asked to provide documentation to verify the information
in the application. Here are some of the items you may need to bring with
you to the interview:
- Identification that shows you and/or your family’s names and address
- Proof of earnings such as pay stubs or other income, such as Social
Security or SSI benefits, or a pension, for each member of your
household
- Proof of how much you spend for childcare
- Rent receipts or proof of your mortgage payments
- Records of your utility costs
- Proof of citizenship or approved immigration status
- Social Security numbers of everyone in your household
- Bank statements
A decision on your application must be made within 30 days unless you
are in an emergency and have no place to live or food to eat. When you
have been declared by DSS to be in an emergency, you can have an immediate
appointment to have your needs evaluated and addressed.
You will receive a letter letting you know if your application has been
accepted or denied and what your benefit amount will be. If you are denied
benefits, you have a right to appeal the decision through a Fair Hearing.
A Fair Hearing is an administrative law procedure in which you exercise
the right to challenge a determination made by the Westchester County
Department of Social Services (DSS). Based upon New York State (and
Federal regulations), the Fair Hearing provides you with the opportunity
to respond to DSS evidence and arguments, and to present your own evidence
and arguments before an impartial Administrative Law Judge.
You may request a Fair Hearing by writing or speaking to the New York
State Department of Social Services:
Fair Hearings Unit
PO Box 1930
Albany, NY 12201
Phone: 800-342-3334
Fax: 518-473-6735
http://www.otda.state.ny.us
Is There Any Cost To Me?
There is no cost to you, though you will be mandated to work or to be
involved in a work-training program.
Who Provides The Benefit?
These benefits and programs are administered by Westchester County
Department of Social Services.
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