Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If anyone is actually interested in what constitutes a household for SNAP purposes (from http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligibility):

What is a Household?

Everyone who lives together and purchases and prepares meals together is grouped together as one household. However, if a person is 60 years of age or older and he or she is unable to purchase and prepare meals separately because of a permanent disability, the person and the person's spouse may be a separate household if the others they live with do not have very much income. (More than 165 percent of the poverty level.)

Some people who live together, such as husbands and wives and most children under age 22, are included in the same household, even if they purchase and prepare meals separately.

Normally people are not eligible for SNAP benefits if an institution gives them their meals. However, there is one exception for elderly persons and one for disabled persons:

Residents of federally subsidized housing for the elderly may be eligible for SNAP benefits, even though they receive their meals at the facility.
Disabled persons who live in certain nonprofit group living arrangements (small group homes with no more than 16 residents) may be eligible for SNAP benefits, even though the group home prepares their meals for them.

Exactly. So if an extended family living together choose to prepare and purchase their meals together, they are one household.

If you have separate families living together who are each responsibile for buying food for their own families, they do NOT need to be counted as one household.

Anonymous wrote:If anyone is actually interested in what constitutes a household for SNAP purposes (from http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligibility):

What is a Household?

Everyone who lives together and purchases and prepares meals together is grouped together as one household. However, if a person is 60 years of age or older and he or she is unable to purchase and prepare meals separately because of a permanent disability, the person and the person's spouse may be a separate household if the others they live with do not have very much income. (More than 165 percent of the poverty level.)

Some people who live together, such as husbands and wives and most children under age 22, are included in the same household, even if they purchase and prepare meals separately.

Normally people are not eligible for SNAP benefits if an institution gives them their meals. However, there is one exception for elderly persons and one for disabled persons:

Residents of federally subsidized housing for the elderly may be eligible for SNAP benefits, even though they receive their meals at the facility.
Disabled persons who live in certain nonprofit group living arrangements (small group homes with no more than 16 residents) may be eligible for SNAP benefits, even though the group home prepares their meals for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is commmon for a lot of ESL immigrant families to put too many people in one house. If you were to add up the incomes of all the people in that house, no way would they be under the poverty line. You're lying to yourself if you think these people don't know how to take advantage of the system and report only the income of one family member on the form to get free or reduced meals for heir kids. Word travels fast in the immigrant communities about how to save money. If they ever get caught, they just play dumb and pretend like they didn't understand because they no speak English good.

You sound dumb and racist. Different families living in one home may be a housing violation but it isn't a violation for public assistance programs. You seem to fail to grasp that a household, for public assistance purposes, relates to family members who are legally responsible for each other. The entire household is not counted, and why would it be? Your roommate or friend isn't responsible for providing food to your kids. Also, don't forget that for each additional person the income limit increases.

Please, take tour disillusioned, idiotic, xenophobic crap elsewhere. Or at LEAST learn a little bit about what you're talking about, because you clearly have zero idea about how social services work.

+1. PP above is beyond dumb. If some families have to (or choose to) share their living space, let's congratulate them for their frugality and saving habits.

But I assume those are foreign concepts to some PPs like the one above.

Damned if you do and damned with you don't with some people.

"How can someone afford to live here?"
"They get roommates."
"No fair! If they have roommates they should pool their money and feel rich!"

There's a big gap between being poor and being rich. If you are legitimately poor, in poverty, that's what FARMs are for. But, if you're a large family pooling your resources together, you may not be rich, but you're not necessarily poor either. The test for these programs is household income, not per capita income. You may not like the rules and you may enjoy spending taxpayer money to help middle class families taking advantage of the system, but that doesn't change what the rules are.

You are crazy.

Call the IRS and ask them if three families living in one same house automatically become one household unit and should prepare one combined tax return.

Did I mention you are crazy?

Ha. You obviously don't know what you're talking about. When people live in the same house and one person or couple provides more than half their support, they often do become dependents on that person's tax return. Of course, that presumes these families are even filing a tax return.

Uh, no. A friend you help support does NOT become a dependent on a tax return. Even a family member is not required to be a dependent if it isn't your child.

Again, you like to spew around "facts" about how things "work" but you clearly don't know how FARMS works. I see you've conveniently ignored all suggestions that you actually look up the policy if you're so certain.

And you clearly don't know how the rules for being a dependent work. To be a "Qualifying Relative" and qualify to be a dependent on someone's tax return, you don't actually have to be related. So, yes, a friend you support can be a claimed as a dependent on your tax return if you meet the requirements. Feel free to read all about it here: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2015_publink1000170933

You clearly think you know how everything works, but that doesn't mean you actually know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is commmon for a lot of ESL immigrant families to put too many people in one house. If you were to add up the incomes of all the people in that house, no way would they be under the poverty line. You're lying to yourself if you think these people don't know how to take advantage of the system and report only the income of one family member on the form to get free or reduced meals for heir kids. Word travels fast in the immigrant communities about how to save money. If they ever get caught, they just play dumb and pretend like they didn't understand because they no speak English good.

You sound dumb and racist. Different families living in one home may be a housing violation but it isn't a violation for public assistance programs. You seem to fail to grasp that a household, for public assistance purposes, relates to family members who are legally responsible for each other. The entire household is not counted, and why would it be? Your roommate or friend isn't responsible for providing food to your kids. Also, don't forget that for each additional person the income limit increases.

Please, take tour disillusioned, idiotic, xenophobic crap elsewhere. Or at LEAST learn a little bit about what you're talking about, because you clearly have zero idea about how social services work.

+1. PP above is beyond dumb. If some families have to (or choose to) share their living space, let's congratulate them for their frugality and saving habits.

But I assume those are foreign concepts to some PPs like the one above.

Damned if you do and damned with you don't with some people.

"How can someone afford to live here?"
"They get roommates."
"No fair! If they have roommates they should pool their money and feel rich!"

There's a big gap between being poor and being rich. If you are legitimately poor, in poverty, that's what FARMs are for. But, if you're a large family pooling your resources together, you may not be rich, but you're not necessarily poor either. The test for these programs is household income, not per capita income. You may not like the rules and you may enjoy spending taxpayer money to help middle class families taking advantage of the system, but that doesn't change what the rules are.

You are crazy.

Call the IRS and ask them if three families living in one same house automatically become one household unit and should prepare one combined tax return.

Did I mention you are crazy?

Ha. You obviously don't know what you're talking about. When people live in the same house and one person or couple provides more than half their support, they often do become dependents on that person's tax return. Of course, that presumes these families are even filing a tax return.

Uh, no. A friend you help support does NOT become a dependent on a tax return. Even a family member is not required to be a dependent if it isn't your child.

Again, you like to spew around "facts" about how things "work" but you clearly don't know how FARMS works. I see you've conveniently ignored all suggestions that you actually look up the policy if you're so certain.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is commmon for a lot of ESL immigrant families to put too many people in one house. If you were to add up the incomes of all the people in that house, no way would they be under the poverty line. You're lying to yourself if you think these people don't know how to take advantage of the system and report only the income of one family member on the form to get free or reduced meals for heir kids. Word travels fast in the immigrant communities about how to save money. If they ever get caught, they just play dumb and pretend like they didn't understand because they no speak English good.

You sound dumb and racist. Different families living in one home may be a housing violation but it isn't a violation for public assistance programs. You seem to fail to grasp that a household, for public assistance purposes, relates to family members who are legally responsible for each other. The entire household is not counted, and why would it be? Your roommate or friend isn't responsible for providing food to your kids. Also, don't forget that for each additional person the income limit increases.

Please, take tour disillusioned, idiotic, xenophobic crap elsewhere. Or at LEAST learn a little bit about what you're talking about, because you clearly have zero idea about how social services work.

+1. PP above is beyond dumb. If some families have to (or choose to) share their living space, let's congratulate them for their frugality and saving habits.

But I assume those are foreign concepts to some PPs like the one above.

Damned if you do and damned with you don't with some people.

"How can someone afford to live here?"
"They get roommates."
"No fair! If they have roommates they should pool their money and feel rich!"

There's a big gap between being poor and being rich. If you are legitimately poor, in poverty, that's what FARMs are for. But, if you're a large family pooling your resources together, you may not be rich, but you're not necessarily poor either. The test for these programs is household income, not per capita income. You may not like the rules and you may enjoy spending taxpayer money to help middle class families taking advantage of the system, but that doesn't change what the rules are.

You are crazy.

Call the IRS and ask them if three families living in one same house automatically become one household unit and should prepare one combined tax return.

Did I mention you are crazy?

+1 You may WANT it to work that way, PP. But that doesn't mean it DOES.

Well, it DOESN'T and it SHOUDLN'T, because it simply makes no sense.

Say my adult cousin needs to move in my basement for a year. Or what about an au-pair. Or the 3 guys I shared a house with several years during college. Are we all part of the same legal & fiscal household?

Of course not.

I don't think most people are talking about your cousin renting out the basement or the au-pair. We're talking about a large extended family living together and depending on each other in a SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENCE. Public assistance programs often require you to list all forms of support you are receiving including indirect support. I know - I've filled out the forms before for other family members. If you're being honest about indirect family support, it is often very difficult to receive public assistance. Whatever. The people on this board who think public assistance programs are all on the up and up and that everyone is being 100% honest and/or there are proper safeguards in place to ensure that cheating is kept to a minimum are laughable.

Cash assistance from family members? Countable. Providing shelter at no charge? Not countable. At least, not for SNAP or reduced lunch.

No one said everyone is being 100% honest. People are saying that there is an obvious misunderstanding about how the programs work, and that a lot of what is being thrown around as "fraud" is not fraud. And also, yet again, if you ACTUALLY KNOW of anyone committing fraud, report it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is commmon for a lot of ESL immigrant families to put too many people in one house. If you were to add up the incomes of all the people in that house, no way would they be under the poverty line. You're lying to yourself if you think these people don't know how to take advantage of the system and report only the income of one family member on the form to get free or reduced meals for heir kids. Word travels fast in the immigrant communities about how to save money. If they ever get caught, they just play dumb and pretend like they didn't understand because they no speak English good.

You sound dumb and racist. Different families living in one home may be a housing violation but it isn't a violation for public assistance programs. You seem to fail to grasp that a household, for public assistance purposes, relates to family members who are legally responsible for each other. The entire household is not counted, and why would it be? Your roommate or friend isn't responsible for providing food to your kids. Also, don't forget that for each additional person the income limit increases.

Please, take tour disillusioned, idiotic, xenophobic crap elsewhere. Or at LEAST learn a little bit about what you're talking about, because you clearly have zero idea about how social services work.

+1. PP above is beyond dumb. If some families have to (or choose to) share their living space, let's congratulate them for their frugality and saving habits.

But I assume those are foreign concepts to some PPs like the one above.

Damned if you do and damned with you don't with some people.

"How can someone afford to live here?"
"They get roommates."
"No fair! If they have roommates they should pool their money and feel rich!"

There's a big gap between being poor and being rich. If you are legitimately poor, in poverty, that's what FARMs are for. But, if you're a large family pooling your resources together, you may not be rich, but you're not necessarily poor either. The test for these programs is household income, not per capita income. You may not like the rules and you may enjoy spending taxpayer money to help middle class families taking advantage of the system, but that doesn't change what the rules are.

You are crazy.

Call the IRS and ask them if three families living in one same house automatically become one household unit and should prepare one combined tax return.

Did I mention you are crazy?

Ha. You obviously don't know what you're talking about. When people live in the same house and one person or couple provides more than half their support, they often do become dependents on that person's tax return. Of course, that presumes these families are even filing a tax return.

Uh, no. A friend you help support does NOT become a dependent on a tax return. Even a family member is not required to be a dependent if it isn't your child.

Again, you like to spew around "facts" about how things "work" but you clearly don't know how FARMS works. I see you've conveniently ignored all suggestions that you actually look up the policy if you're so certain.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is commmon for a lot of ESL immigrant families to put too many people in one house. If you were to add up the incomes of all the people in that house, no way would they be under the poverty line. You're lying to yourself if you think these people don't know how to take advantage of the system and report only the income of one family member on the form to get free or reduced meals for heir kids. Word travels fast in the immigrant communities about how to save money. If they ever get caught, they just play dumb and pretend like they didn't understand because they no speak English good.

You sound dumb and racist. Different families living in one home may be a housing violation but it isn't a violation for public assistance programs. You seem to fail to grasp that a household, for public assistance purposes, relates to family members who are legally responsible for each other. The entire household is not counted, and why would it be? Your roommate or friend isn't responsible for providing food to your kids. Also, don't forget that for each additional person the income limit increases.

Please, take tour disillusioned, idiotic, xenophobic crap elsewhere. Or at LEAST learn a little bit about what you're talking about, because you clearly have zero idea about how social services work.

+1. PP above is beyond dumb. If some families have to (or choose to) share their living space, let's congratulate them for their frugality and saving habits.

But I assume those are foreign concepts to some PPs like the one above.

Damned if you do and damned with you don't with some people.

"How can someone afford to live here?"
"They get roommates."
"No fair! If they have roommates they should pool their money and feel rich!"

There's a big gap between being poor and being rich. If you are legitimately poor, in poverty, that's what FARMs are for. But, if you're a large family pooling your resources together, you may not be rich, but you're not necessarily poor either. The test for these programs is household income, not per capita income. You may not like the rules and you may enjoy spending taxpayer money to help middle class families taking advantage of the system, but that doesn't change what the rules are.

You are crazy.

Call the IRS and ask them if three families living in one same house automatically become one household unit and should prepare one combined tax return.

Did I mention you are crazy?

+1 You may WANT it to work that way, PP. But that doesn't mean it DOES.

Well, it DOESN'T and it SHOUDLN'T, because it simply makes no sense.

Say my adult cousin needs to move in my basement for a year. Or what about an au-pair. Or the 3 guys I shared a house with several years during college. Are we all part of the same legal & fiscal household?

Of course not.

I don't think most people are talking about your cousin renting out the basement or the au-pair. We're talking about a large extended family living together and depending on each other in a SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENCE. Public assistance programs often require you to list all forms of support you are receiving including indirect support. I know - I've filled out the forms before for other family members. If you're being honest about indirect family support, it is often very difficult to receive public assistance. Whatever. The people on this board who think public assistance programs are all on the up and up and that everyone is being 100% honest and/or there are proper safeguards in place to ensure that cheating is kept to a minimum are laughable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is commmon for a lot of ESL immigrant families to put too many people in one house. If you were to add up the incomes of all the people in that house, no way would they be under the poverty line. You're lying to yourself if you think these people don't know how to take advantage of the system and report only the income of one family member on the form to get free or reduced meals for heir kids. Word travels fast in the immigrant communities about how to save money. If they ever get caught, they just play dumb and pretend like they didn't understand because they no speak English good.

You sound dumb and racist. Different families living in one home may be a housing violation but it isn't a violation for public assistance programs. You seem to fail to grasp that a household, for public assistance purposes, relates to family members who are legally responsible for each other. The entire household is not counted, and why would it be? Your roommate or friend isn't responsible for providing food to your kids. Also, don't forget that for each additional person the income limit increases.

Please, take tour disillusioned, idiotic, xenophobic crap elsewhere. Or at LEAST learn a little bit about what you're talking about, because you clearly have zero idea about how social services work.

+1. PP above is beyond dumb. If some families have to (or choose to) share their living space, let's congratulate them for their frugality and saving habits.

But I assume those are foreign concepts to some PPs like the one above.

Damned if you do and damned with you don't with some people.

"How can someone afford to live here?"
"They get roommates."
"No fair! If they have roommates they should pool their money and feel rich!"

There's a big gap between being poor and being rich. If you are legitimately poor, in poverty, that's what FARMs are for. But, if you're a large family pooling your resources together, you may not be rich, but you're not necessarily poor either. The test for these programs is household income, not per capita income. You may not like the rules and you may enjoy spending taxpayer money to help middle class families taking advantage of the system, but that doesn't change what the rules are.

You are crazy.

Call the IRS and ask them if three families living in one same house automatically become one household unit and should prepare one combined tax return.

Did I mention you are crazy?

Ha. You obviously don't know what you're talking about. When people live in the same house and one person or couple provides more than half their support, they often do become dependents on that person's tax return. Of course, that presumes these families are even filing a tax return.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is commmon for a lot of ESL immigrant families to put too many people in one house. If you were to add up the incomes of all the people in that house, no way would they be under the poverty line. You're lying to yourself if you think these people don't know how to take advantage of the system and report only the income of one family member on the form to get free or reduced meals for heir kids. Word travels fast in the immigrant communities about how to save money. If they ever get caught, they just play dumb and pretend like they didn't understand because they no speak English good.

You sound dumb and racist. Different families living in one home may be a housing violation but it isn't a violation for public assistance programs. You seem to fail to grasp that a household, for public assistance purposes, relates to family members who are legally responsible for each other. The entire household is not counted, and why would it be? Your roommate or friend isn't responsible for providing food to your kids. Also, don't forget that for each additional person the income limit increases.

Please, take tour disillusioned, idiotic, xenophobic crap elsewhere. Or at LEAST learn a little bit about what you're talking about, because you clearly have zero idea about how social services work.

+1. PP above is beyond dumb. If some families have to (or choose to) share their living space, let's congratulate them for their frugality and saving habits.

But I assume those are foreign concepts to some PPs like the one above.

Damned if you do and damned with you don't with some people.

"How can someone afford to live here?"
"They get roommates."
"No fair! If they have roommates they should pool their money and feel rich!"

There's a big gap between being poor and being rich. If you are legitimately poor, in poverty, that's what FARMs are for. But, if you're a large family pooling your resources together, you may not be rich, but you're not necessarily poor either. The test for these programs is household income, not per capita income. You may not like the rules and you may enjoy spending taxpayer money to help middle class families taking advantage of the system, but that doesn't change what the rules are.

You are crazy.

Call the IRS and ask them if three families living in one same house automatically become one household unit and should prepare one combined tax return.

Did I mention you are crazy?

+1 You may WANT it to work that way, PP. But that doesn't mean it DOES.

Well, it DOESN'T and it SHOUDLN'T, because it simply makes no sense.

Say my adult cousin needs to move in my basement for a year. Or what about an au-pair. Or the 3 guys I shared a house with several years during college. Are we all part of the same legal & fiscal household?

Of course not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is commmon for a lot of ESL immigrant families to put too many people in one house. If you were to add up the incomes of all the people in that house, no way would they be under the poverty line. You're lying to yourself if you think these people don't know how to take advantage of the system and report only the income of one family member on the form to get free or reduced meals for heir kids. Word travels fast in the immigrant communities about how to save money. If they ever get caught, they just play dumb and pretend like they didn't understand because they no speak English good.

You sound dumb and racist. Different families living in one home may be a housing violation but it isn't a violation for public assistance programs. You seem to fail to grasp that a household, for public assistance purposes, relates to family members who are legally responsible for each other. The entire household is not counted, and why would it be? Your roommate or friend isn't responsible for providing food to your kids. Also, don't forget that for each additional person the income limit increases.

Please, take tour disillusioned, idiotic, xenophobic crap elsewhere. Or at LEAST learn a little bit about what you're talking about, because you clearly have zero idea about how social services work.

+1. PP above is beyond dumb. If some families have to (or choose to) share their living space, let's congratulate them for their frugality and saving habits.

But I assume those are foreign concepts to some PPs like the one above.

Damned if you do and damned with you don't with some people.

"How can someone afford to live here?"
"They get roommates."
"No fair! If they have roommates they should pool their money and feel rich!"

There's a big gap between being poor and being rich. If you are legitimately poor, in poverty, that's what FARMs are for. But, if you're a large family pooling your resources together, you may not be rich, but you're not necessarily poor either. The test for these programs is household income, not per capita income. You may not like the rules and you may enjoy spending taxpayer money to help middle class families taking advantage of the system, but that doesn't change what the rules are.

You are crazy.

Call the IRS and ask them if three families living in one same house automatically become one household unit and should prepare one combined tax return.

Did I mention you are crazy?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is commmon for a lot of ESL immigrant families to put too many people in one house. If you were to add up the incomes of all the people in that house, no way would they be under the poverty line. You're lying to yourself if you think these people don't know how to take advantage of the system and report only the income of one family member on the form to get free or reduced meals for heir kids. Word travels fast in the immigrant communities about how to save money. If they ever get caught, they just play dumb and pretend like they didn't understand because they no speak English good.

You sound dumb and racist. Different families living in one home may be a housing violation but it isn't a violation for public assistance programs. You seem to fail to grasp that a household, for public assistance purposes, relates to family members who are legally responsible for each other. The entire household is not counted, and why would it be? Your roommate or friend isn't responsible for providing food to your kids. Also, don't forget that for each additional person the income limit increases.

Please, take tour disillusioned, idiotic, xenophobic crap elsewhere. Or at LEAST learn a little bit about what you're talking about, because you clearly have zero idea about how social services work.

+1. PP above is beyond dumb. If some families have to (or choose to) share their living space, let's congratulate them for their frugality and saving habits.

But I assume those are foreign concepts to some PPs like the one above.

Damned if you do and damned with you don't with some people.

"How can someone afford to live here?"
"They get roommates."
"No fair! If they have roommates they should pool their money and feel rich!"

There's a big gap between being poor and being rich. If you are legitimately poor, in poverty, that's what FARMs are for. But, if you're a large family pooling your resources together, you may not be rich, but you're not necessarily poor either. The test for these programs is household income, not per capita income. You may not like the rules and you may enjoy spending taxpayer money to help middle class families taking advantage of the system, but that doesn't change what the rules are.

You are crazy.

Call the IRS and ask them if three families living in one same house automatically become one household unit and should prepare one combined tax return.

Did I mention you are crazy?

+1 You may WANT it to work that way, PP. But that doesn't mean it DOES.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is commmon for a lot of ESL immigrant families to put too many people in one house. If you were to add up the incomes of all the people in that house, no way would they be under the poverty line. You're lying to yourself if you think these people don't know how to take advantage of the system and report only the income of one family member on the form to get free or reduced meals for heir kids. Word travels fast in the immigrant communities about how to save money. If they ever get caught, they just play dumb and pretend like they didn't understand because they no speak English good.

You sound dumb and racist. Different families living in one home may be a housing violation but it isn't a violation for public assistance programs. You seem to fail to grasp that a household, for public assistance purposes, relates to family members who are legally responsible for each other. The entire household is not counted, and why would it be? Your roommate or friend isn't responsible for providing food to your kids. Also, don't forget that for each additional person the income limit increases.

Please, take tour disillusioned, idiotic, xenophobic crap elsewhere. Or at LEAST learn a little bit about what you're talking about, because you clearly have zero idea about how social services work.

+1. PP above is beyond dumb. If some families have to (or choose to) share their living space, let's congratulate them for their frugality and saving habits.

But I assume those are foreign concepts to some PPs like the one above.

Damned if you do and damned with you don't with some people.

"How can someone afford to live here?"
"They get roommates."
"No fair! If they have roommates they should pool their money and feel rich!"

There's a big gap between being poor and being rich. If you are legitimately poor, in poverty, that's what FARMs are for. But, if you're a large family pooling your resources together, you may not be rich, but you're not necessarily poor either. The test for these programs is household income, not per capita income. You may not like the rules and you may enjoy spending taxpayer money to help middle class families taking advantage of the system, but that doesn't change what the rules are.

You are crazy.

Call the IRS and ask them if three families living in one same house automatically become one household unit and should prepare one combined tax return.

Did I mention you are crazy?