When determining eligibility for Food Assistance, the eligible unit must have a head of household. Program rules determine the assistance units that exist within the household.
The adult household members must designate a head of household for Food Assistance. The case worker records the designated head of household for the household for Food Assistance. The household's designated head of household is assigned to the assistance unit in which s/he is either an eligible member of the assistance unit or an excluded/non household member or an optionally excluded member. This assistance unit is the initial or primary assistance unit.
The system determines other potential assistance units in the household, which can be formed separate to the unit which includes the designated head of household. The system also determines all the valid head of household(s) for those units. These valid head of household's are presented to the user to view as part of eligibility results. If more than one head of household is determined for an assistance unit the user must select the head of household that the will be used for the assistance unit from a list.