New Jersey LIHEAP: count the state SSI supplement net of the Lifeline payment #10230

PR #10157 adds nj_ssp, New Jersey's optional state supplement to SSI. Every supplement rate except the Medicaid-facility rate includes the state's Lifeline utility payment. New Jersey LIHEAP counts the SSI check minus the Lifeline, but the model's NJ LIHEAP counts only federal ssi, so it leaves out the non-Lifeline part of nj_ssp. This change depends on #10157 and should follow it in a separate PR.

Sources

• FY2027 LIHEAP Handbook, PDF page 11, item 7.b: "For individuals receiving SSI, the PARTNERING AGENCY or other non-profit agency shall deduct the supplemental payment amount from the Tenant's Lifeline Credit program, which is included in the SSI check. The balance shall be considered as income to the household."
• POMS SI 01415.058 J.1 (NOTE): "All State Supplement payments, except for medicaid facilities, include a Lifeline payment".
• N.J.S.A. 48:2-29.17, 48:2-29.33 and 48:2-29.34 (LIHEAP Clearinghouse compilation):
  • the annual credit or tenant payment is $225.00, and "No household shall receive more than one annual credit";
  • for SSI recipients, it is "a special State utility supplement to the Supplementary Security Income program and shall be made in 12 monthly installments".
  • The compilation shows amendments only through 1985, so the current amount needs confirming.

What the model does now

• nj_liheap_countable_income_person counts ssi (parameters/gov/states/nj/dca/liheap/income/sources/unearned.yaml) but not nj_ssp.
• Its documentation says "The SSI variable carries no Tenants Lifeline supplement". That stays true of ssi, but once Add New Jersey state supplementation for 2026 #10157 merges the Lifeline is part of nj_ssp.
• NJ CCAP's parameters/gov/states/nj/njdhs/ccap/income/countable_income/unearned_sources.yaml lists ssi (CCDF State Plan 2.2.4c) but not nj_ssp.

Proposed change

1. Add a New Jersey Lifeline parameter: $225 a year per household ($18.75 a month).
2. In NJ LIHEAP, count max(nj_ssp - Lifeline share, 0) for each SSI recipient. Use no Lifeline deduction for the Medicaid-facility rate (code G). Split the household's Lifeline between the two members of an eligible couple; POMS J.2.b footnote 1's half-penny is half of $18.75.
3. Update the LIHEAP documentation sentence.
4. Check whether NJ CCAP should also count nj_ssp, and whether it deducts the Lifeline.

POMS doesn't print the Lifeline share of each rate. Confirm that individual rates carry the full $18.75 before using it.

Size

• Code B individual: $31.25 − $18.75 = $12.50 a month left out.
• Code C (living only with an ineligible spouse): $152.99 − $18.75 = $134.24 a month.

LIHEAP pays by monthly income band, so only households just below a band edge would change.

Raised in DTrim99's review of #10157 (Suggestion 4).