Section 289.2. Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

Emergency—Sudden unexpected circumstances creating a breakdown of individual or family functioning in meeting basic family needs and resulting in a need for immediate action to avoid destitution of the individual or minor children residing in the family unit.

Notation

Notes of Decisions

The issuance of a housing citation with an order to vacate as soon as possible creates ‘‘sudden unexpected circumstances’’ requiring moving, even though the deterioration which made the premises uninhabitable was not sudden and unexpected. Hopkins v. Department of Public Welfare, 405 A.2d 1077, 1078 (1979).

Since an applicant’s indebtedness for furniture and a mortgage were incurred during her employment and there was no evidence which would tend to show that she spent her money improvidently or that she would not have met her obligations had she been able to work, she was eligible for emergency assistance. Slaughter v. Department of Public Welfare, 406 A.2d 846, 847 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1979).

Threatened eviction of an applicant and her children due to financial difficulties resulting from the departure of the applicant’s husband one year before is an emergency as defined by this section, since the mere passage of time between the sudden unexpected circumstances and the actual request for assistance need not preclude a finding that an emergency exists. McCullough v. Department of Public Welfare, 424 A.2d 577, 579 (1981).

Cross References

This section cited in 55 Pa. Code § 289.4 (relating to procedures).