In New Hampshire, people with little or no income may be entitled to assistance by way of vouchers or referral from their town or city. New Hampshire law (RSA 165) requires each town and city to have a local welfare program to help people who are in need of assistance in meeting their basic living needs. The role of local town and and city welfare is to relieve and maintain residents of their towns/cities whenever a person is unable to support themselves. Each New Hampshire town has a town or city welfare office, usually located within the Town Office. This is a separate resource from State Welfare/Dept. of Health and Human Services that provide long term assistance. Local town welfare programs are required to provide assistance by way of vouchers for basic necessities such as food, shelter, rent, mortgage payments, heat, electricity, gas, water, necessary clothing, transportation, and prescriptions. Basic telephone service may be paid if necessary for health and safety reasons. Towns must also consider help with "maintenance" items such as paper products, household supplies, diapers, etc.. Towns should pay security deposits if necessary to obtain housing if not available from the State Security Deposit Program. Necessary medical costs should be paid if there is no other way to obtain essential medical services. The town may decide that a certain expense, such as a car payment, is not necessary. This may happen when a reasonable lower cost option is available, such as public transportation. The town should issue a written decision on your application within 3 to 5 days of your application. If there is an emergency, the town should make a decision that business day. The written decision should tell you how much and what kind of help the town will give. You can't be denied assistance just because: *You have lived in town only a short time *You have received help in the past, or have not repaid help you received in the past *The town says they don't have enough money in the budget *You receive other state or federal assistance (However if you receive APTD or OAA, speak with 603 Legal Aid for further information If you think that your request for help has been wrongly denied, call 603 Legal Aid for assistance. You have the right to appeal and request a hearing. If you have questions about this process, please call 603 Legal Aid for assistance. **Whenever any person, a resident in this state, who served in the armed forces of the United States dies and did not leave sufficient estate to pay the expenses of his funeral, or was an assisted person, the overseers of public welfare shall cause him to be decently buried at the expense of the municipality in which he died. Funds received from the Department of Veterans Affairs towards burial expenses shall be retained by the municipality. The municipality shall make a request to the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide a suitable monument.**