Arizona Cash Assistance (TANF) for single parents and families (2026)

The A1 and A2 payment standards: what a family of three receives

DES uses two payment scales. The A1 standard applies when the family is obligated to pay rent, a mortgage, property taxes, mobile home space fees or HOA fees, and also when the family has a lease in public or subsidized housing, even if it pays no rent at all. The A2 standard applies when the family has no shelter obligation, when a third party has paid the shelter costs for three or more consecutive months, or when the family claims a shelter cost but cannot verify it ⁠³. The A1 scale equals 36% of the 1992 poverty level and the A2 scale equals 23% ⁠³.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

The table continues to 9 people: $775 (A1) and $488 (A2) ⁠¹⁠². A one-parent family with two children is a budgetary unit of 3.

To get A1, bring a rent receipt, a lease, a landlord’s statement, mortgage records or a housing assistance contract to the interview. DES re-verifies the shelter cost every three years, and also whenever you move or report a change from A2 to A1 ⁠³.

How DES applies the two income tests

An applicant has to pass two tests before DES pays anything ⁠⁴:

• Needy Family Test. Gross earned and unearned income of the caretaker’s whole family must not exceed 100% of the current federal poverty level when the caretaker is a parent. A grandparent or other nonparent relative who applies only for the child is held to 130% ⁠⁴.
• Payment Standard Test. DES subtracts a $90 cost-of-employment deduction for each worker, then 30% of countable earnings, then dependent care costs. Whatever net income remains is subtracted from the A1 or A2 standard. If the result is at least one cent, the family qualifies, and that difference is the monthly grant ⁠⁴.

In practice, the payment standard test is what sets the income limit. A family of three on the A1 scale stops qualifying once its countable income after deductions reaches $347 ⁠⁴⁠¹.

Arizona also has a family benefit cap. A child born while the parent is on Cash Assistance is generally not added to the grant. To soften this, DES applies an “Empower Disregard,” which deducts from the family’s earnings the amount the capped child would have received ⁠⁴.

Countable resources, measured as equity value, cannot total more than $2,000. This limit has been in effect since Aug. 1, 1997 ⁠⁶.

Grant Diversion: three months of cash in one payment

Grant Diversion is a single, nonrecurring payment equal to three months of Cash Assistance. It is meant for a parent who is likely to start full-time work within 90 days ⁠⁷. DES must complete a diversion case within three calendar days after it receives all the verification it needs ⁠¹⁴. To qualify, an adult in the family has to be available for full-time work right away, and the primary informant has to confirm one of these:

• work or self-employment income in the application month or in the 12 months before it;
• completion of an education, vocational or job training program within the last six months;
• an offer of full-time work starting within the three-month diversion period ⁠⁷.

The family also has to qualify for at least $1 of regular Cash Assistance. You cannot get diversion if you received it in the past 12 months, if you have a current sanction, if you got cash assistance from any state in the application month, or if you are only on leave from a job that would put you over income, such as a summer break from a school district job ⁠⁷. Diversion has real advantages. Its months do not count toward the 12-month or 60-month limits, and diversion families do not have to cooperate with DCSS, attend the Jobs orientation or sign the Personal Responsibility Agreement ⁠⁷.

Arizona’s 12-month clock and the second year

Under state law, a family whose head of household (or spouse) has received 12 months of Cash Assistance is no longer eligible. The months do not have to be consecutive and count back to Oct. 1, 2002, no matter what funding paid for them ⁠⁸. Child-only cases are exempt. Some months are also not counted: months on a reservation where adult unemployment is above 50%, and months when the grant was less than the full amount because it was prorated from the application date ⁠⁸.

To get 12 more months (the Time Limit Extension), you have to ask for it, orally or in writing. No adult can have a Jobs sanction in the family’s final regular month, every child aged 6 through 15 has to meet school attendance rules, and you must not have used the extension before ⁠⁹. The statute sets the attendance standard at 90% unless an absence is excused ⁠⁸. You have to keep complying with the Jobs Program for the full year, or the extension ends ⁠⁹. Separate from the extension, hardship extensions are available, and federal law caps TANF-funded help at 60 months in any state ⁠⁸.

Jobs Program duties and the 50% sanction

Every adult on Cash Assistance must take part in work activities, and DES sets up an employment plan with each one ⁠¹⁰. Unless an exemption applies, new applicants first complete the Jobs Program Preliminary Orientation (JPPO). This is a video, audio recording or read-aloud script, done with an FAA worker before approval ⁠⁵. The law temporarily defers some people ⁠¹⁰:

• a single parent caring for a child under 12 months, for no more than 12 months in a lifetime (this does not cover teen parents without a diploma);
• an unmarried parent under 18 caring for a baby under 12 weeks;
• a person caring for a dependent with a disability who cannot care for themselves;
• a domestic violence victim whose participation would put them or their children in immediate danger.

When the state meets federal work rates, unmarried parents may attend school directly related to employment, such as a GED, career and technical education, or an associate or other college program, in place of standard work activities ⁠¹⁰. If your case closes because you reached the time limit while you were enrolled in Jobs and not sanctioned, Jobs services can continue for up to 12 months, as long as funding allows ⁠¹⁰.

The same graduated sanctions apply to six duties. You must cooperate with child support enforcement, meet work requirements, keep children enrolled in and attending school, keep immunizations current, not quit a job without good cause, and not use, sell or possess illegal drugs. The first violation cuts the grant by 50% for one month. A second violation in any later month ends the grant for at least one month or until you comply ⁠¹¹.

Applying through Health-e-Arizona Plus, step by step

1. Choose how to file

   Apply online through Health-e-Arizona Plus (HEAplus), by phone at (855) 432-7587, in person at any FAA office (weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), by fax to (602) 257-7031 or (844) 680-9840, or by mail to DES FAA, PO Box 19009, Phoenix, AZ 85005-9009 ⁠¹³. Paper filers use the Application for Benefits, Form FAA-0001A, which also comes in Spanish ⁠¹³.

2. Make the application count today

   A name, an address and a signature are enough for DES to accept the application and record its date, so file even if your documents are not ready yet ⁠¹³. The first month’s grant is prorated from the application date ⁠⁸.

3. Gather proof

   Bring identity and relationship documents for each child, pay stubs, proof of the shelter cost you need for A1, and balances for any accounts counted toward the $2,000 limit ⁠³⁠⁶.

4. Do the interview and say whether you want diversion

   The primary informant has to take part in the interview. If you are screened for Grant Diversion, DES must schedule the interview within five days ⁠¹³⁠¹⁴.

5. Complete the JPPO and child support steps

   Unless you are exempt or choosing diversion, complete the Jobs orientation and give DCSS what you know about the other parent ⁠⁵⁠¹¹.

6. Watch for the decision

   DES has to decide a Cash Assistance application within 45 days. Grant Diversion and kinship cases must be decided within 20 days ⁠¹⁴.

7. Appeal within 30 days

   For Cash Assistance, you have 30 calendar days from the date the notice was mailed to request a hearing. You can ask in person, by phone, through HEAplus, by email, by mail or by fax. For Nutrition Assistance, the deadline is 90 days ⁠¹².

Child support, tribal TANF and other help for Arizona parents

Unless you have good cause, you must cooperate with the DES Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) to locate the other parent and establish support. Refusing triggers the same 50% sanction as other violations ⁠¹¹. Parents who are not on Cash Assistance can open a DCSS case directly. Enrolled tribal members who live in a tribal service delivery area may be served by their tribe’s TANF program instead of state Cash Assistance; Arizona passes state money through to tribes that run their own programs ⁠⁴⁠¹⁵. If you are also behind on utility bills, see Arizona energy and utility assistance. For other programs, see all Arizona assistance guides or compare cash assistance across states.