Where this sits: Benefits › Child support and benefits › GA, MSA and Housing Support. Related: one-time back payments.
This page covers General Assistance (GA), Minnesota Supplemental Aid (MSA) and Housing Support.
The short answer
General Assistance counts child support and spousal support a person receives as unearned income, in full, with no disregard. Minnesota Supplemental Aid and Housing Support mostly follow the GA rule.
Which rule applies to whom
The program manual states the GA rule once and points the other programs to it:
| Program and person | Rule |
|---|---|
| GA | Count child and spousal support received directly as unearned income, in full |
| MSA, person on SSI | The manual says "no action is required": SSI's own income rules apply |
| MSA, person not on SSI | Follow GA |
| Housing Support, person who is aged, blind or disabled | Follow MSA (and through it SSI or GA) |
| Housing Support, anyone else | Follow GA |
- People on SSI: child support a person on SSI receives for themselves is counted by the Social Security Administration. Under SSI rules a third of child support received for a child is reportedly excluded, but this site has not verified that rule.
- "Received directly": support that is owed but not paid, or that goes to someone else, is not income the person has, so it does not count. GA has no assignment and pass-through like MFIP's, so support normally does reach the person directly.
- Someone on both MFIP and Housing Support has a special income rule (Minnesota Statutes 256P.06, subd. 2(d)). How it interacts with child support is not covered here; flag it and check with the county.
The statute agrees: Minnesota Statutes 256P.06, subd. 3 counts all child support for GA, MSA and Housing Support.
Reporting changes
A GA unit, and an MSA or Housing Support unit not on SSI, must report a change in unearned income of $50 a month or more by the 10th of the following month. Support that starts, stops or changes by that much must be reported. Because it must be reported, an increase can change GA benefits before the next review. This sits awkwardly with the manual's rule against counting unexpected income after approval, which matters most for a one-time back payment: see one-time back payments.
Do not apply a $50 exclusion
An older Minnesota Rule for GA (9500.1223, subp. 2, item W) still excludes "the first $50 of child support received". The current statute counts all child support for GA, and the current manual applies no exclusion, so they override it. An assistant should not apply a $50 exclusion. (The rule item has not been formally repealed, as far as this site knows.)
One-time back payments
In MSA (not on SSI) and in Housing Support, a one-time back payment counts as income in the month received, with exceptions (money used to repay interim assistance in MSA; the month a person enters a Housing Support setting). In GA the answer is not settled. Details: one-time back payments.
Support the person pays out (including garnishment)
First ask: does the person live in a facility where GA pays a personal needs allowance? Is the support court-ordered, and how much is garnished each month?
- GA: credit only for people eligible for a personal needs allowance. They can have up to $250 a month of child support garnished under a court order deducted, plus any spousal maintenance garnished under a court order, including administrative collection fees. For other GA recipients the manual reads as giving no credit, so the full income (for example, the whole unemployment benefit before garnishment) counts. This is still being checked; say so.
- MSA: no provision for support paid out.
- Housing Support: the manual says "some support deduction may be allowed". A manual section not yet saved by this site says court-ordered support can be deducted when it reduces the client's SSI benefit, and clients not on SSI follow the same procedure. Treat this as likely but unconfirmed.
For workers: a Housing Support client
Before applying the "follow GA" rule, ask:
- Is the child in the Housing Support unit, or living elsewhere?
- Is the client aged or blind? "Not disabled" does not rule those out, and either sends her to the MSA rule.
- Is she also on MFIP?
How a child living with a Housing Support adult is budgeted is not covered here.