DocketNumber: Appeal, No. 1111 C.D. 1978
Citation Numbers: 45 Pa. Commw. 647
Judges: Blatt, Craig, Disalle
Filed Date: 9/13/1979
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 6/24/2022
Opinion by
Angel Hopkins (petitioner) appeals here from an order of the Hearing and Appeals Unit of the Department of Public Welfare (DPW) which reversed a hearing examiner’s award of an emergency shelter allowance. She argues that the Hearing and Appeals Unit improperly reversed the hearing examiner’s findings of fact
To be eligible for an emergency shelter allowance, an applicant must demonstrate
[sjudden 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.
55 Pa. Code §289.2.
Our review of the record indicates that, while the Hearing and Appeals unit accepted the factual findings of the hearing examiner in this case, it disagreed that the claimant’s situation amounted to “sudden unexpected circumstances”, and it therefore reversed the hearing examiner’s legal conclusion, not the findings of fact. We believe that it did err, however, in concluding that the petitioner’s situation was not the result of “sudden unexpected circumstances”. It
We believe therefore that the order of the Hearing and Appeals Unit should be reversed, and that of the hearing examiner should be reinstated.
Order
And Now, this 13th day of September, 1979, the order of the Hearing and Appeals Unit in the above-captioned case is hereby reversed, and the order of the hearing examiner is reinstated.
The petitioner also argues that the Hearing and Appeals Unit did not actually reverse the examiner’s order; this contention, however, is without merit.
This regulation provides that the decision of a hearing officer is subject to review by the Secretary or his designee but that