The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that it is updating its definition of a “public assistance household” to ensure that financially vulnerable Americans have greater access to Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
SSI payments are granted to adults and children with disabilities or blindness, and to individuals aged 65 and above, to help beneficiaries meet basic needs such as food, clothing, rent, and medicine.
Under the new definition, PA households will include homes that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments, as well as homes where not all members receive public assistance.
“The expanded definition will allow more people to qualify for SSI, increase some SSI recipients’ payment amounts, and reduce reporting burdens for individuals living in public assistance households,” the SSA said.
For instance, if a beneficiary is living in their parent’s home but not paying their share of housing costs, then that share would be seen as an ISM, money for the beneficiary’s shelter that someone else paid.
ISM calculations are crucial since they can reduce the monthly SSI payments. Any unearned shelter or food assistance received by a beneficiary is deducted from SSI dues with only the balance paid out.
There are two types of ISM: inside and outside ISM, indicating whether food and shelter were provided to a person by someone within or outside the household.
The new rule thus defines a public assistance household as one “that has both an SSI applicant or recipient, and at least one other household member who receives one or more of the listed means-tested public income-maintenance (PIM) payments,” the SSA stated.
“These changes are key because, if an applicant or recipient is determined to be living in a public assistance household, the agency assumes they are not receiving assistance from other household members that would otherwise be counted as income. This will allow more people to qualify for SSI and in some cases, receive a higher SSI payment.”
The new rule comes into effect on Sept. 30 and is part of a series of updates to SSI regulations aimed at helping people who receive and apply for SSI, according to the agency.
Martin O’Malley, commissioner of social security, said that “by simplifying our policies and including an additional program geared towards low-income families, such as the SNAP, we are removing significant barriers to accessing SSI. These changes promote greater equity in our programs.”
Support and Criticism of the Rule
In comments submitted to SSA about the new rules, the Legal Aid Society backed expanding the definition of PA households.Including SNAP in the PA household definition “reflects the changing reality of needs-based assistance programs since the 1980s and better reflects the current landscape of means-tested PA programs,” according to the Legal Aid Society. “SNAP fits squarely within the intent of the PA provision’s exclusion from ISM since SNAP recipients have already been determined by another agency to be low-income, with 92 percent of SNAP households with income at or below poverty level.”
“Therefore, like recipients of the PIM programs recognized under the current rule, it is clear that SNAP households need all of their income for their own needs and are in no position to support other household members who receive SSI.”
“Using SNAP to confirm SSI eligibility will result in overpayments in multiple programs and place a larger financial burden on recipients to repay taxpayer funds misappropriated, either by client/agency error or fraud,” according to UCOWF.
“As testimony in recent hearings has demonstrated, overpayments requiring debt collection and Treasury Offset Program recoupment places an unacceptable burden on some of the most vulnerable members of society.”
Under new rules published in April, SSI recipients who get rental assistance, such as renting a home at a discounted rate, will be less likely to see their monthly payments reduced.
Similarly, the agency used to deduct food assistance received by SSI beneficiaries from their monthly payments. In March, the SSA announced they were doing away with such a rule.
