- Under DHCD regulations, you are not eligible for EA if you transferred real or personal property within the previous year for the purpose of becoming eligible for EA. 106 C.M.R. § 309.020(H). If you did not know about EA at the time of the transfer, or there was another reason you transferred the property, this rule should not bar you from shelter.
- A 2009 state law says that DHCD can deny you EA if it can prove that, in the previous year, you transferred, assigned or depleted assets that would have made you ineligible for EA and the transfer, assignment or depletion was for reasons that were not reasonable at the time or for reasons that do not qualify as "good cause." M.G.L. c. 23B, § 30(B), as amended by St. 2009, c. 27, § 14.
"Good cause" reasons, for this rule, include but are not limited to that the funds were spent for necessary or reasonable costs of living such as rent, utilities, food, health-related needs, education-related expenses, or transportation. As of this writing, DHCD has not yet revised its regulations to include the 2009 law.
Advocacy Tip
The Legislature repealed the state law that used to say that a family should be denied EA if it transferred property in the past year for the purpose of getting EA. So the DHCD regulation based on that law may now be invalid. If you are denied EA because DHCD says you transferred property for the purpose of getting EA, contact an advocate.
Produced by Ruth Bourquin, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute Last updated October 2011
