49.138 Emergency assistance for families with needy children.

(1d) In this section:

(a) “Administering agency" means the department or, if the department has contracted with a Wisconsin works agency under sub. (3), the Wisconsin works agency.

(b) “Needy person" has the meaning specified by the department by rule.

(1m) The department shall implement a program of emergency assistance to needy persons in cases of fire, flood, natural disaster, homelessness or impending homelessness, or energy crisis. The department shall establish the maximum amounts of aid to be granted. The department need not establish the maximum amounts by rule under ch. 227. The department shall publish the maximum amounts in the Wisconsin administrative register if the department does not establish the maximum amounts by rule. Emergency assistance provided to needy persons under this section may only be provided to a needy person once in a 12-month period. Emergency assistance provided to needy persons under this section in cases of homelessness or impending homelessness may be used only to obtain or retain a permanent living accommodation. For the purposes of this section, a family is considered to be homeless, or to be facing impending homelessness, if any of the following applies:

(a) The family must leave its current housing because it is uninhabitable as determined by a local building inspector, a local health department or another appropriate local authority.

(am) The family is experiencing a financial crisis that makes it very difficult for the family to make a rent payment, mortgage payment or property tax payment and the family has been notified that it will be required to leave its current housing if it does not make that payment immediately.

(b) The family has a current residence that is a shelter designed for temporary accommodation such as a motel, hotel, shelter facility or transitional shelter facility.

(c) A member of the family was a victim of domestic abuse, as defined in s. 968.075 (1) (a).

(d) The family is without a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.

(e) The family is living in a place that is not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation.

(3) The department may contract with a Wisconsin works agency to administer this section.

(4)

(a) Any individual whose application for emergency assistance under this section is not acted upon with reasonable promptness after the filing of the application, as defined by the department by rule, or is denied in whole or in part, or who believes that the assistance amount was calculated incorrectly, may petition the administering agency for a review of such action. Review is unavailable if the action by the administering agency occurred more than 45 days prior to submission of the petition for review.

(b) Upon a timely petition under par. (a), the administering agency shall give the petitioner reasonable notice and opportunity for a review. The administering agency shall render its decision as soon as possible after the review and shall send by 1st class mail a certified copy of its decision to the petitioner. The administering agency shall deny a petition for a review or shall refuse to grant relief if the petitioner does any of the following:

1. Withdraws the petition in writing.

2. Abandons the petition. Abandonment occurs if the petitioner fails to appear in person or by representative at a scheduled review without good cause, as defined by the department by rule.

(c) If the administering agency is a Wisconsin works agency, the department may review the decision of the Wisconsin works agency if, within 14 days after the date on which the certified copy of the decision of the Wisconsin works agency is mailed, the applicant or participant petitions the department for a review of that decision.

(5)

(a) The department shall recover from an individual receiving emergency assistance under this section an overpayment of the emergency assistance if the overpayment resulted from a misrepresentation by the individual applying for the assistance with respect to any fact having an effect on the individual's eligibility for, or the amount of, the assistance granted.

(b) If an overpayment of emergency assistance provided under this section resulted from an error made by a Wisconsin Works agency, the department shall recover the overpayment from the Wisconsin Works agency and may do so by offsetting the amount from amounts otherwise due the agency under a contract under s. 49.143.

(c) The department may recover overpayments of emergency assistance under par. (a) or (b) in the manners provided in ss. 49.195 (3m) and 49.85. Nothing in this paragraph or par. (b) precludes the department from recovering emergency assistance overpayments through any other legal means.

History: 1995 a. 289 ss. 83e, 103d; 1997 a. 27; 1999 a. 9; 2003 a. 33; 2005 a. 25; 2007 a. 20; 2009 a. 45; 2015 a. 55.