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Group Homes Information

Group homes include group living facilities such as housing for the elderly, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, battered women shelters, and homeless shelters. Group homes can be Authorized Representatives for residents' food stamp benefits to purchase food for the facility.

If you would like to participate in the Food Stamp Program, contact the Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) at 1-877-823-4369 for an application. Once approved and a FNS number is assigned to your facility, our vendor, J.P. Morgan EFS, will contact you about installing a point-of-sale (POS) device.

The group home will swipe the residents' EBT cards on the POS device and their food stamp benefits will be transferred to the group home's account. It works just like a food stamp benefit transaction at a retail store. The group home can then shop for food from their own account.

If a resident leaves before the end of the month, the group home can return any unused portion of the food stamp benefits to the recipient's EBT account using the POS device.

If the county distributes Cal-Works or other cash benefits via EBT, the POS device can be set up to access the recipient's cash benefits also. The group home may elect to use this feature so residents can pay any rent, etc. directly from their EBT card.