U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness
2006 Annual Report
Social Security Administration

Overview of Activities and Accomplishments

SSA has a long history of providing outstanding service to the American public – including homeless populations. We also are strongly committed to supporting the President’s initiative to end chronic homelessness in America. We therefore are increasing outreach efforts among the homeless for both the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. We see these benefit programs as a basis of income support around which a case manager can build a network of other government and community services.

SSA continues to participate in the revitalized Interagency Council on Homelessness. In addition, we have developed an Agency-wide plan to address homelessness issues and document activities to provide benefits and services to the homeless. We have also created a workgroup that is responsible for coordinating and monitoring these activities.

Our homelessness plan seeks to identify locations with significant homeless populations and to determine what areas to target for outreach activities. Specific homeless plan objectives include:

• Identifying and removing barriers that homeless individuals face in applying for SSDI or SSI benefits.
  
  
• Identifying areas for improvement in current policy and operating procedures.
  
  
• Developing and expanding SSDI/SSI outreach and application assistance to the homeless by developing a web page for homeless advocates (see http://www.socialsecurity.gov/homelessness).
  
  
• Addressing service delivery issues through collaboration with Federal partners. (Examples include the Department of Justice’s "Going Home" project, which focuses on serious and violent offenders; the Department of Health and Human Services’ project to provide training for case managers whose clients are homeless and potentially eligible for SSDI/SSI (SOAR); and the Health Care for the Homeless program which seeks to improve access to health care, mental health, and substance abuse treatment for homeless individuals.)
  

Through the Homeless Outreach Projects and Evaluation (HOPE) initiative, SSA awarded $6.6 million in cooperative agreement funding to 34 public and private organizations in April 2004 and an additional $1.2 million in cooperative agreement funding to 7 organizations in November 2004. Organizations that have been awarded funds are required to provide outreach, supportive services, and benefit application assistance to homeless adults and/or children. The target population for these projects is homeless individuals who are members of underserved groups, which may include individuals with severe and persistent mental illness, HIV infection, limited English proficiency, multiple and co-occurring disorders or cognitive impairments, and U.S. armed service veterans. We expect to fund each of the 41 projects for four years. (NOTE: The original 34 awards are expected to end in April 2008 and the additional 7 awards are expected to end in October 2008.)

We provided a comprehensive 3-day program orientation to one group of our cooperative agreement partners in August 2004, and to a second group in January 2005. Following this training, HOPE projects began enrolling homeless individuals and assisting them with filing for SSDI and SSI payments based on disability. From September 2004 through July 2007, HOPE projects enrolled 8,480 homeless individuals and, as of that date, received 2,659 favorable disability determinations. We continue to monitor the progress of our cooperative agreement partners and gather current information from their quarterly reports, regarding such issues as enrollments and awards, to produce a consolidated report on grantee activities.

Social Security Programs

In 1935, the Social Security Act established a program to help protect aged Americans against the loss of income due to retirement. Protection for survivors of deceased workers was added in 1939, creating the Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) program. The SSDI program was added in 1956, followed by the SSI program in 1972. As of December 2005:

• 48.4 million Americans received Social Security benefits as of December 2005, an increase of 738,500 since December 2004;
• 7.5 million Americans received benefits based on disability---6,519,000 disabled workers, 768,500 disabled adult children and 213,000 disabled widows and widowers. In addition, 153,800 spouses and 1,564,300 minor and student children of disabled workers received benefits;
• Total OASDI benefit payments for calendar year 2005 were $520.7 billion. Payments from the OASI trust fund were $435.4 billion---an increase of 4.9% from the $414 billion paid in 2004;
• Benefit payments from the DI trust fund, from which benefits are paid to disabled workers, their spouses and children, increased by 9.1% from $78.2 billion in 2004 to $85.4 billion in 2005;
• OASDI benefit awards in calendar year 2005 totaled 4,672,200, including 2,000,200 to retired workers, 452,700 to their spouses and children and 870,100 to survivors of insured workers. Benefits were awarded to 829,700 disabled workers and to 519,500 of their spouses and children;
• 7,113,879 persons received federally administered SSI payments---or 126,000 more than the previous year. Of the total, 1,994,511 (28%) were aged 65 or older; 4,082,870 (57.4%) were blind or disabled aged 18-64; and 1,036,498 (14.6%) were blind or disabled under age 18, and total SSI payments were $37.2 billion in 2005, up 3.2% from 2004. Federally administered state supplementation totaled $4.2 billion.
  

Few government agencies touch the lives of as many people as SSA. The combined Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance programs, commonly referred to as Social Security, provide a comprehensive package of protection against the loss of earnings due to retirement, disability and death. Monthly cash benefits are financed through payroll taxes paid by workers and their employers and by self-employed individuals. The monthly benefit amount, to which an individual (or spouse and children) may become entitled under the OASDI program, is based on the individual’s taxable earnings during his or her lifetime.

To qualify for OASI benefits, a worker must have paid Social Security taxes for at least 10 years over the course of his or her lifetime. To qualify for DI benefits, an individual must meet a test of recent covered work before becoming disabled. Disability benefits provide a continuing income base for eligible workers who have qualifying disabilities and for eligible members of their families. Workers are considered disabled if they have a medically determinable physical or mental impairment that prevents them from engaging in substantial gainful activity. The disability must have lasted, or be expected to last, for a continuous period of not less than 12 months, or be expected to result in death.

SSI is a means-tested program designed to provide or supplement the income of aged, blind or disabled individuals with limited income or resources. SSI payments and related administrative expenses are financed from general tax revenues, not from Social Security payroll taxes. Children, as well as adults, can receive payments due to disability or blindness. There are general provisions to encourage working and special incentives to those beneficiaries who have disabilities or are blind. The Federal benefit rate and eligibility requirements are uniform nationwide. However, various States provide a SSI benefit supplement. Also, SSI beneficiaries may be eligible for food stamps, Medicaid and social services. Thus, for homeless individuals who are age 65 or older, blind or disabled, SSA plays a critical role in helping provide monthly benefit payments and linkages to medical and nutrition services.

Targeted Homeless Assistance Program

Congress appropriated $8 million per year in fiscal years (FY) 2003, 2004 and 2005 and directed SSA to use the appropriations to provide outreach and application assistance to homeless and other underserved populations. SSA used this earmarked funding to establish the HOPE program in support of the President’s initiative to end chronic homelessness in America within 10 years. This initiative is focused on assisting eligible, homeless individuals in applying for SSI and SSDI benefits. HOPE projects will help SSA demonstrate the effectiveness of using skilled medical and social service providers to identify and work with homeless individuals with disabilities, including assisting them with the application process.

Cooperative agreement funding was made available to public and private organizations, including non-profit, profit-making, and faith-based organizations that possess existing expertise and capacity to conduct outreach activities to locate and engage homeless individuals; are able to provide or arrange for health care services; and are able to provide culturally competent services to all members of the target population, without regard to race, sex, religion, or disability. Currently, we have cooperative agreement partners in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.

2006 Budget

Congress provided $8 million per year in fiscal years (FY) 2003, 2004 and 2005 and directed SSA to conduct outreach to homeless and other under-served populations. SSA utilized these funds to continue its cooperative agreement partnership with its 41 grantees for a 4-year period. There was no targeted funding beyond FY 2005.

Planned Evaluation

SSA awarded an evaluation contract to WESTAT in September 2004. Grantees are expected to work with WESTAT and make data available to them for the evaluation. The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the value of providing additional training and access to SSA personnel. The evaluation will determine whether the additional resources impact the ability of social service providers to (1) identify homeless individuals who may be eligible for Social Security or SSI benefits and (2) develop the appropriate documentation for disability applications. Preliminary findings were released during the HOPE annual conference in October 2007. The final evaluation report is due November 2007.

Addressing Impediments that Homeless Individuals Experience

SSA is uniquely positioned through its network of over 1300 field offices to provide assistance to the homeless. SSA field offices have established a variety of activities and special procedures to reduce the problems faced by homeless individuals in obtaining SSDI or SSI benefits for which they may be eligible. The primary impediment identified by field office and disability determination services staff is the difficulty of maintaining contact with the homeless individual. It is also difficult for homeless individuals to keep appointments and to maintain records of medical treatment. SSA addresses these impediments by:

• Allowing homeless individuals to receive their monthly checks at the local field office;
• Assisting individuals in establishing bank accounts for Direct Deposit of benefits and using Automatic Teller Machines; and
• Allowing individuals to use the field office as a message center, so that disability determination services' appointments or requests for information are not missed.
  

Current Liaison and Outreach Activities

Field offices and disability determination services throughout the nation have established liaisons with various organizations to assist homeless individuals in applying for, and maintaining, entitlement to SSI benefits by:

• Establishing ongoing relationships with homeless organizations, agencies, shelters, churches, county welfare and local healthcare providers that serve homeless populations in order to provide immediate assistance and resolve issues related to homeless populations;
  
  
• Scheduling appointments with various agencies to facilitate the claims process;
  
  
• Coordinating development between disability determination services and treatment providers to expedite the disability claims process;
  
  
• Arranging for field offices to contact disability determination services to schedule consultative examinations for homeless individuals with no medical sources so that the individual is provided the date and time of the appointment before leaving the field office;
  
  
• Working with the Veterans Administration to assist homeless veterans filing claims or maintaining eligibility;
  
  
• Visiting homeless shelters and hospitals (by field office staff) to take claims or assist individuals with post-entitlement actions;
  
  
• Attending meetings of community-based service organizations for the homeless (by field office staff) to provide ongoing information about SSA programs and to maintain good lines of communication;
  
  
• Distributing public information materials to appropriate agencies involved with the homeless and maintaining resource information from those agencies in field offices in order to provide referral services, as needed; and
  
  
• Identifying new community service programs that assist the homeless and developing liaisons.
  

Training Initiatives

Field office and disability determination services staff provide ongoing training to agencies and community service organizations that serve the homeless. For example:

• Field offices train social workers and advocacy groups on the completion of claims forms and documentation requirements for claims processing;
  
  
• Field office staff participate in workshops to disseminate information on programs and services; and
  
  
• Public Affairs Specialists and field office management establish relationships with legal aid and law enforcement agencies to provide basic eligibility training on SSA programs.
  

Efforts to Increase Outreach to Homeless Individuals and Advocacy Organizations

While many SSA offices around the country have developed programs and procedures to address target populations, including homeless individuals, the centerpiece to those efforts is the new working relationships developed through our cooperative agreement partners under the HOPE project.

The goal of the cooperative agreements is to demonstrate efficient, replicable and sustainable approaches for identifying individuals who are potentially eligible for benefits under the Social Security or SSI disability programs and providing direct assistance to these individuals in the benefit application process. The core objectives for the projects are to identify homeless individuals who are potentially eligible for benefits and to provide assistance to project participants that results in faster claim decisions and higher initial allowance rates for those who are eligible.

As noted in the “Overview of Activities and Accomplishments”, cooperative agreement partners enrolled over 8,480 homeless individuals in the HOPE project for the period beginning September 2004 through July 2007.