How to Fill Out the CW 74: Daily Housing Contacts for CalWORKs

To fill out the CW 74, California’s Permanent Housing Search Document, write one row for each housing contact you make while receiving Temporary Homeless Assistance: the date you made contact, the property address, the name of the person you spoke with, their phone number, and a specific reason the unit didn’t work out. Sign the authorization line at the bottom so your county worker can verify the entries, and turn the log in on the schedule your worker gives you. The form is a single page, available as a PDF from the California Department of Social Services or at your county welfare office.1California Department of Social Services. Permanent Housing Search Document

What the Form Asks For

The CW 74 has five columns and one signature line. For each contact you log:1California Department of Social Services. Permanent Housing Search Document

  • Date of Contact — the day you actually spoke with someone about a rental.
  • Address — the location of the unit you asked about.
  • Person Contacted — the name of the landlord, property manager, or leasing agent.
  • Phone — a working number where your county can reach that person.
  • This place wasn’t rented because — a short, concrete reason it didn’t work out.

That’s the whole log. There is no field for rent amount, no space for your income, no section describing the unit. At the bottom you sign an authorization letting the county verify what you listed. Skip that signature and the form is useless, because your worker can’t confirm anything on it.

One Contact for Every Day You Get Paid

You must contact at least one person who could rent to you for each day you receive a Temporary Homeless Assistance payment. If a day slips past, you can make it up by contacting two people the next day.1California Department of Social Services. Permanent Housing Search Document

Use the make-up rule when you need it, but don’t let gaps accumulate. A log with several blank days and a sudden burst of contacts on the last day reads thin, and your worker is the one deciding whether it supports continued aid.

Fill in each row the same day the contact happens. Reconstructing two weeks of calls from memory the night before your deadline is how wrong phone numbers and half-remembered names end up on the page, and those are the entries that fail verification.

Writing Entries That Will Verify

Your worker may call people on the list to confirm you actually inquired about a unit. Entries that pass that check share a few traits.

Put a real person in the “Person Contacted” column. Not “front desk,” not “office.” If you call a management company, ask for the name of the agent who took your call and write that name down. A generic entry gives the verifier nothing to work with.

Make the phone number the one you actually dialed to reach that person, not a main switchboard that will route a county caller somewhere else.

Be specific in the “this place wasn’t rented because” column. “Too expensive” tells your worker nothing. “Rent was $2,400 a month, above my budget” tells them something they can use. Other concrete reasons: no vacancies, deposit higher than you could cover, credit score requirement you didn’t meet, not enough bedrooms for your family size. If the landlord said they don’t accept CalWORKs recipients, write that exactly as it happened; more on why below.

Turning the Form In

Your county eligibility worker needs the CW 74 to keep Temporary Homeless Assistance payments flowing and to process Permanent Housing Assistance for a security deposit or last month’s rent. Some counties want the log at the end of each week; others want it after all 16 days are used. Ask your worker which schedule applies to you so you don’t miss an interim deadline.

You can hand-deliver the form to your county office, mail it to your assigned worker, or drop it in the office’s document box. The BenefitsCal online portal also accepts uploads: choose “Upload a Document,” enter the document details, select the file, and save the confirmation receipt. Keep that receipt. A timestamped record of submission is worth having if a dispute comes up about when the form arrived.

After the county receives your log, your worker reviews the entries and may call one or more of the people listed. Verified entries clear the way for Permanent Housing Assistance. Entries that can’t be verified — wrong numbers, contacts who have no memory of you, landlords who don’t exist — lead to a denial.

If You Can’t Meet the Daily Requirement

The daily search requirement can be waived for good cause. If a disability makes daily property visits or phone calls difficult, you can request a reasonable accommodation from your county, which might mean fewer required contacts per week or permission for a caseworker or advocate to make some calls for you.

California has also directed counties to grant good cause broadly, including accepting a sworn statement about your housing search when written proof isn’t available. If you have a legitimate reason you’re going to fall short of the daily contact rule, raise it with your worker before the deadline. Submitting a half-empty form with no explanation is worse than asking for the accommodation upfront.

When a Landlord Rejects You for Being on CalWORKs

California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act makes it unlawful for a landlord to refuse to rent to you based on your source of income, which explicitly includes federal, state, and local public assistance and housing subsidies.2California Legislative Information. California Code Government Code GOV 12955 The protection reaches advertising too, so a listing saying “no Section 8” or “no government assistance” is also unlawful.

That changes what you write on the CW 74. A landlord saying “we don’t take CalWORKs” is not a legitimate reason your search failed; it’s a violation. Record it on the form the way it happened, flag it for your eligibility worker, and consider filing a complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Federal fair housing law does not cover source of income, but California’s does.

Don’t Invent Contacts

Listing landlords you never called or properties you never visited is welfare fraud under California Welfare and Institutions Code Section 10980. If the total aid involved is $950 or less, the penalty is up to six months in county jail, a fine up to $500, or both. Over $950, the sentence can reach 16 months, two years, or three years in state prison, with fines up to $5,000.3California Legislative Information. California Code WIC 10980 A fraud finding also makes future CalWORKs access much harder. The verification calls are real, so honest entries, even thin ones with a good-cause explanation, are the only approach that holds up.

If Your Assistance Is Denied

If the county denies Temporary Homeless Assistance or Permanent Housing Assistance, it must send you a written Notice of Action with the reason. You have 90 days from that notice to request a state hearing.4California Department of Social Services. State Hearing Requests A late request is still possible but requires a good reason for the delay.

You can request a hearing three ways:

  • Online through the CDSS State Hearings Division portal at acms.dss.ca.gov.
  • By phone at (800) 743-8525.
  • By mail using the hearing request on the back of your Notice of Action, or a letter of your own, sent to the California Department of Social Services, State Hearings Division, P.O. Box 944243, Mail Station 9-17-442, Sacramento, CA 94244-2430.

Include your full name, address, phone number, the county that denied the benefit, and a clear statement of why you believe the denial was wrong. Note any language other than English so the state can arrange an interpreter, and keep a copy of everything you send.