Something I Don't Get About My Amazing Country.…
Hello, Higher Ground Abodes Community!
Thanks for the great response to our first blog in November! In addition to your kind donations, we heard from several of you - sharing fundraising ideas and grant postings, as well as offering to volunteer. The response was unexpected, to say the least, and we are grateful!
Before getting into the topic for this month, I want to wish you all a Happy Holiday Season!
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With that said, fair warning….I am going on a bit of a rant today!
It doesn’t happen often, but this needs to be said. Our country is awesome, no doubt! We have our challenges to work through, and as you all know, I am advocating for one in particular, but in short, I am grateful that I can speak out without fear of persecution. I am proud that our children can go to school for free, and I thank God every day that I can openly pray and profess my belief system. But I came here to describe something that has been bugging me for some time. When I read this recent article by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, I got all riled up again.
Most of you should be familiar with Supplemental Security Income (SSI). It is an income assistance program based on need. President Richard Nixon signed SSI into law in 1972 to assist disabled children and adults, as well as individuals aged 65 or older. To qualify, an individual has to be low-income and have no more than $2000 ($3000 for a married couple) in assets, e.g., savings or mutual funds. After fifty years, the income limits, or "asset test," as they are also called, have remained unchanged, establishing them as some of the strictest saving limits of any federal program in our homeland.
Can you see that this law penalizes married people, and $2000 is barely enough for a security deposit in this skyrocketing rental market? In the words of Chris Rocks’ character in the movie Head of State, “That ain’t right!”
Even the people at the Social Security Administration (SSA) who administer the SSI program also find it inefficient to deal with these outdated limits, also called “asset tests.” It's causing problems, leading to errors and even suspensions for those who go a smidge over the limit. Then, the people who we are supposed to be helping are left paying back thousands of dollars from their tiny benefits, and there doesn’t seem to be a good reason for this. That ain’t right!
The limit has not been updated for decades, causing its value to decrease to only one-fifth of its 1972 value. That's like still using a dial-up modem in a world of 5G! That ain’t right!
Here's the deal, folks: a higher limit would encourage saving instead of punishing it. Research even shows that having some money saved up gives people more economic security. It could also make life easier for SSA employees, reduce errors, and help more seniors and people with disabilities get the support they need without wiping out their savings. Did you know that people with disabilities tend to have a higher cost of living anyway? That ain’t right!
Other programs like SNAP and Medicaid have adjusted their limits, so why not SSI? There are proposals on the table, like raising the limit to $10,000 per beneficiary or even $100,000 (that's 50 times more!). Some lawmakers have even suggested scrapping the limit altogether. Any of these scenarios would be a shift in the right direction, yet proposal after proposal seeking a change has gone nowhere. That just ain’t right!
Based on the findings of the economists and actuaries who contributed to the article, even a modest increase to $10,000 would only boost participation by 3 percent. Imagine what a fiftyfold increase or getting rid of the limit could do—5 to 6 percent more people getting the support they need!
I want to know what you think. Do you feel it's time for a change? Should we tell our congresspeople to get on board with proposals like S. 2767 and H.R. 5408? Would you do me a “solid” and invite your legislators for a conversation, send them a letter, email, or text? This is America, and if we unite our voices, guess what type of impact we can have.
How does this relate to housing? Well, I am glad you asked...
Now, this may have seemed like a random blog on my part. No! Why? People who receive SSI as their sole income fall within HGA's target demographic, and giving voice to issues of this type is also what we do!
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