[Current rules for SSI recipients make it difficult to get
financial help from friends and family. ]
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SMART ASS CRIPPLE: HOW SSI KEEPS PEOPLE POOR  
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Mike Ervin
September 6, 2023
The Progressive
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_ Current rules for SSI recipients make it difficult to get financial
help from friends and family. _

,

 

Relying on Social Security Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is no
picnic—especially if it is one’s main and perhaps only source of
economic support.

First of all, the maximum
[[link removed].] monthly
SSI payment is $914 for an individual. But if two people who receive
SSI get married, they get penalized
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The highest allowable monthly payment for a married couple, when both
are receiving SSI, is $1,371.

If a married couple wants to maintain SSI eligibility, they can’t
have more than $3,000 in financial assets
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limit for an individual is $2,000.

And if all that isn’t petty and chintzy enough, people who get SSI
can also be docked for having in-kind income. The Social Security
Administration (SSA) says
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income is “food, shelter, or both that somebody else provides for
you.”

So, for example, if someone who gets SSI also receives free or reduced
room and/or board from someone trying to help them get by, SSA can
reduce their monthly payment. According to SSA, of the 7.3 million
people
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received SSI in January 2022, about 793,000 of them were hit with an
in-kind reduction from their monthly amount.

But in August of this year, SSA published a proposed rule change
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the _Federal Register_ to make the calculation it uses to determine
in-kind housing reduction amounts less stringent. In February, SSA
also published a separate proposed rule change
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would completely eliminate the inclusion of food as an in-kind
deduction. 

That’s good, but both of these changes are still just proposals.
They’re not official yet. Proposed rule changes
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the _Federal Register_ are open for public comment for a period of
time. The agency then reviews all comments and either reissues the
rule as final, amends it, or withdraws it. The process does not move
quickly.

The deadline for commenting on the latest proposal is October 23. Even
if the rule eventually becomes final as it is currently written, it
will still be only a partial improvement. People who get SSI could
still be docked for their in-kind housing support, just for a lesser
amount and not as frequently. And SSA acknowledges in the proposal
that seeking this change was inspired by the fact that this lesser
standard is already in effect in seven states where it has been
mandated by court rulings.

How about getting rid of the whole idea of in-kind SSI deductions?
When one person is trying to live off of no more than $914 a month, or
a married couple is trying to live off of no more than $1,371, they
need all of the help they can get. Receiving some support from someone
else is not a luxury.

In-kind deductions, and all of the other harsh restrictions that come
along with receiving SSI, are rooted in the stupid old notion that
people must be punished for being poor. Poor people deserve nothing
more than the barest necessities. 

While the proposed changes are small steps in the right direction,
major leaps are needed to truly help those who rely on SSI.

_Mike Ervin: Disability rights activist and writer, “expressing
pain through sarcasm since 2010.”_

_Since 1909, The Progressive has aimed to amplify voices of dissent
and those under-represented in the mainstream, with a goal of
championing grassroots progressive politics. Our bedrock values are
nonviolence and freedom of speech._

_Based in Madison, Wisconsin, we publish on national politics,
culture, and events including U.S. foreign policy; we also focus on
issues of particular importance to the heartland. Two flagship
projects of The Progressive include Public School Shakedown
[[link removed]], which covers efforts
to resist the privatization of public education, and The Progressive
Media Project [[link removed]], aiming to diversify our
nation’s op-ed pages. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. _

* Social Security
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* poverty
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