Legal Poverty Level

Due to the confusing legal language of 1972, poverty directives have sometimes been mistakenly referred to as „OMB” (Office of Management and Budget) poverty guidelines or poverty line. In fact, the OMB never published the guidelines; The guidelines are published annually by the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux. Poverty guidelines may be formally referred to as „the poverty guidelines periodically updated in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 9902(2).” This paper does not contain definitions of terms such as „income” or „family”, as there are significant differences between these terms between programmes using the poverty guidelines. The laws or regulations that apply to each program define these terms and determine how the program applies the poverty guidelines. In cases where legislation or regulations do not establish these definitions, the entity that manages or funds the program is responsible for defining terms such as „income” and „family”. Therefore, questions such as net or gross income, recognized or excluded income, or household size should be directed to the entity that manages or funds the program. For more information on the number of people living in poverty, visit the Poverty section of the Census Bureau website in www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty.html or contact the Census Bureau Customer Service Center at 1-800-923-8282 (toll-free) or visit ask.census.gov for more information. Programs that use policies (or percentage multiples of policies – for example, 125% or 185% of policies) to determine eligibility include Head Start, Nutition Supplemental Assistance Program (CPAWS), National School Meals Program, Home Energy Assistance Program for Low-Income Individuals, and Children`s Health Insurance.

It should be noted that public cash assistance programs (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Supplemental Security Income) DO NOT generally use poverty guidelines to determine eligibility. The Working Income Tax Credit program also does NOT use poverty guidelines to determine eligibility. For a more detailed list of programs that use and do not use policies, see Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Some federal programs use a multiple percentage of guidelines (e.g., 125% or 185% of policies) as specified in applicable authorization legislation or program rules. Non-federal organizations that apply the poverty guidelines under their own responsibility in non-federally funded activities may also choose to use a multiple percentage of the guidelines. Poverty guidelines are sometimes loosely referred to as the „Federal Poverty Line” (FPL), but this term is ambiguous and should be avoided, especially in situations (e.g., legislative or administrative) where precision is important. The January 2022 poverty guidelines are calculated by adjusting the 2020 Census Bureau poverty lines using the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) to reflect price changes between 2020 and 2021. The poverty lines used by the Census Bureau for statistical purposes are complex and do not consist of standardized increases between family sizes. Since many programs prefer to use policies that provide for uniform increases for all family sizes, poverty guidelines include rounding and standardization of adjustments. Poverty guidelines (as opposed to poverty lines) are named after the year in which they are published. For example, guidelines released in January 2021 are called the 2021 Poverty Guidelines.

However, the HHS 2021 poverty guidelines only reflect price changes during calendar year 2020. as a result, they roughly match the Census Bureau`s poverty lines for calendar year 2020. (The 2020 thresholds are expected to be released in final form in September 2021; a draft version of the 2020 thresholds is now available from the Census Bureau.) For general questions about the poverty guidelines themselves, contact Kendall Swenson, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Room 404E.3, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC 20201 – Phone: (202) 795-7309 – or visit aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/. As required by law, this update is achieved by increasing the most recently published poverty lines by the Census Bureau by the corresponding percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI-U). The guidelines in this Communication for 2022 reflect a price increase of 4,7 % between calendar years 2020 and 2021. After this adjustment for inflation, the guidelines are rounded and adjusted to normalize differences in family sizes. In rare cases, rounding and formula normalization adjustments result in slight decreases in poverty guidelines for certain household sizes, even if the inflation factor is not negative. In cases where the annual change in inflation is not negative and rounding and formula normalization adjustments for certain household sizes result in a reduction in the previous year`s guidelines, the guidelines for the affected household sizes are based on the previous year`s guidelines. As in previous years, these guidelines for 2022 are roughly in line with the poverty lines for calendar year 2021, which the Census Bureau is expected to release in final form in September 2022. This notice contains an update to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) poverty guidelines to reflect the price increase of the last calendar year, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. For more information about the multiple percentage of poverty guidelines to use on immigration forms such as USCIS Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, contact U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at 1-800-375-5283.

You can also visit www.uscis.gov/i-864. The poverty guidelines can be officially called „the poverty guidelines that are periodically updated in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C.” 9902(2).” Poverty guidelines continue to be derived from the current official poverty lines of the Census Bureau; they are not derived from the Census Bureau`s Supplementary Measure of Poverty (MPS). Poverty lines are the original version of the federal government`s measure of poverty. They are updated annually by the Census Bureau.