Social Security is seeking public comments "regarding the unique needs of homeless Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients, particularly those who live in public emergency shelters for the homeless, in an effort to better understand and address their needs."
6 comments:
This is another example of SSA diverting limited resources and manpower to an issue SSA is not responsible to solve. Better to leave this to local public and private agencies and organizations, including charities and religious groups, who have the flexibility to act quickly to attend to local needs. SSA cannot handle some of the basic tasks necessary to provide quality, accurate and timely service. Are we to believe that SSA can find time to seek information, evaluate it, and come up with a solution for the needs of the homeless on SSI, especially those in public emergency shelters?
Well in Baltimore I know the homeless could use more help. We have panhandlers on every major corner. The charities you espouse seem to have dropped the ball.
Besides, this isn't about giving money to homeless people, it's about giving money to people who happen to be homeless at one point or another while a beneficiary. Your idea of, "they are homeless now, not SSA's responsibility even if they are are SSI recipients," is heartless at best.
I was a Claims Rep @ SSA for 30 yrs & now work for a law firm that represents SSD disability claimants.
SSA reps have never been trained to be social workers and with the current workloads they barely have enuf time to perform their actual job duties efficiently, much less take on responsibilities that belong to other agencies.
It's not a matter of being heartless, it's a brutal fact.
The homeless and soon to be homeless need multiple points of contact in case they fall through the cracks. Too many of their claims are denied when they don't get the mail through no fault of their own. If they each provided 2 extra mail drops of trusted people in case their latest address is RTS, SSA could save a lot of grief and some multiple refilings.
"better understand and address their needs"
Fascinating. A ssi system that mandates a disabled individual has to be in poverty before receiving any assistance. And the gatekeepers want to understand these indiviuals,simply amazing.
Do not take this snippet out of context. See the linked Federal Register notice. There is a disparity in SSI eligibility in public vs. private shelters, among other things, and SSA is looking at revising some of its policies. This is not merely a "what can we do to help the homeless" question, but an inquiry to see if the policy needs to be changed, and if so, what consequences might result for the claimants.
Post a Comment