Relates to the powers of social services officials to receive and dispose of a deed, mortgage, or lien

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1. Amends section one hundred and six of the social services law pertaining to deeds, mortgages and liens to:

* clarify that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), child care assistance, and Emergency Assistance to Adults or the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) payments made by the Social Services District are not recoverable;

* clarify that a social services official may not recover payments of public assistance if such payments were reimbursed by child support collections;

* require that a social services official may not recover payments of public assistance, such as through a lien on a deed or mortgage from an applicant or recipient, without first receiving a signed acknowledgment from the applicant or recipient indicating that he or she understands that benefits provided as part of (SNAP), child care services, and (HEAP) may not be included as part of the public assistance recovery to be made under the mortgage; and, should the applicant or recipient decline to provide the lien or mortgage, that the children in the household remain eligible for public assistance;

* require that an accounting of the public assistance incurred and repairs and taxes paid on the property be provided to the person giving such deed or mortgage, or his or her- estate or those otherwise entitled, no later than four months after the end of the county's fiscal year annually until such property or mortgage is sold, assigned, foreclosed or paid in full;

* require such accounting include information regarding the debt owed, including, but not limited to: an enumeration of all assistance incurred to date; the current amount of recoverable assistance under the deed or mortgage; the amount of any credits against assistance; and information regarding the manner in which payments may be made to the social services district to reduce the amount of the mortgage.

* to provide that no assistance can be recoverable in those fiscal years that the counties do not provide such accounting;

* to mandate social service districts provide such accounting to recipients for all deeds or mortgages taken on or before January 1, 2014 by November 1, 2014, or else those deeds and mortgages shall not

be valid in each case that an accounting was not provided by the deadline;

* to require that any contracts for repayment of public assistance by the recipient to the social services district not charge interest.

* To allow social services officials to subordinate a mortgage taken on behalf of the public welfare district pursuant to this section. The social services official shall subordinate a mortgage within 30 days of receipt of written notice that the homeowner is attempting to modify a mortgage held by a mortgagee with superior lien rights and subordination of the public welfare district's mortgage is required by the superior lien holder in order for it to approve or complete the modification.

Section 2: This act shall take effect sixty days after it becomes law.

Justification

It is imperative that, when people must turn to the government for help, governmental entities do their best to provide services with clarity, accountability, and transparency, in a manner that minimizes rather than exacerbates the fiscal burdens on public benefit recipients.

This bill will address the unfortunate errors that have occurred within social services districts in New York State during the recovery process of public assistance from former recipients. There have been too many cases of miscalculated credits, where social services requires much more money than is owed by the recipient of public benefits. Further, social services districts currently can put a lien against a deed or mortgage without notifying the recipient that a lien has been placed. Too often, the lien is not discovered for many years, sometimes even after the public benefit recipient has passed away, resulting in lost records and an almost insurmountable burden on the recipient or recipient's family to prove what has or has not already been recovered through other means, such as credits.

This legislation is necessary to ensure proper accounting of public benefits recovery on an annual basis, ensuring stability, clarity, and accountability.

Prior legislative history

New Bill

Fiscal implications for state and local governments

TED.

Effective date

Sixty days after it becomes law.