An Old-Timer’s Guide To SSI

You are eligible to receive Supplemental Security Income, SSI payments (about $914 a month), if you are blind or disabled or over sixty-five, and have $2000 or less in the bank. (In this essay I’m focusing on those over sixty-five.) You can own your home and that will not be counted as an asset, no matter the value. You can own one car, of any value, and that is also not counted against you.

You don’t have to be blind or disabled, only sixty-five, and not eligible for Social Security (SSA) because you didn’t pay enough into the system while working, or you never worked. (If you’re already getting roughly less than $1000 from SSA you can apply for SSI also to increase your income. For example, if you’re only getting $400 from SSA you would probably get approximately $500 more from SSI.)

I’m surprised that so many people around here don’t know these basic facts about the government assistance for which they are eligible. (Even a long-time social worker I talked to yesterday didn’t know you only had to be sixty-five to get on SSI.)

Late last year I heard of a friend of a friend who’s a broke senior of seventy-seven who applied for SSA, found that he wasn’t eligible, no one at Social Security told him about the SSI option, and he had never heard of it. He’s stranded on his mountain waiting for his car to be repaired and he sold another vehicle recently to generate funds to live on for awhile. Now he has the number and is going to call and apply. (Success story: a month later he’s applied, was approved, and is getting paid.)

To apply for SSI you call 866.828.1991 in Eureka or the national number 800.772.1213, and expect to wait on the line, sometimes up to an hour, to talk to a representative. When you call they will start your application right then or you can make a phone appointment for later, or an appointment to come to the local Social Security office, or just drop into one of the local offices to start your application. (Eureka: 3144 Broadway, 95501/ Ukiah: 521 S Orchard Ave, 95482.) You can also start your application online at ssa.com but the phone call is better I was told by someone working in the system. 

Be prepared to give them access to your bank account, they may go back as far as six years of your bank statements to see if you are eligible, then once you get on SSI they may check your account at any time to make sure you don’t have more than $2000 in your account. (They’re pretty intrusive during the application process but once you’re on they usually leave you alone.)

Sometimes you’re approved within twenty minutes if your situation is very clear, and your bank account checks out. If you have had more money and now it’s gone you may be asked to produce receipts for what you spent it on. (If you’re actively spending down the amount in your bank account to be eligible, which they actually recommend, it could be helpful to keep your receipts.) 

When you’re spending down your bank account, if you buy things of value, like an expensive painting, that counts against you and you might not be quickly approved. If you buy, for example, a washing machine, car, refrigerator, or pay for repairs on any of those appliances or on your car or home, that spending won’t count against you in your application. 

You’re allowed to own only one piece of property to qualify for SSI. If you have two and sell one below market value or sign it over to a friend or family member then you have to wait two years to be eligible. (If you sell a second piece of land at market value then you will have too much money to qualify, until you spend it down.)

You can’t have rental income or any stocks and bonds, you have to be really poor. If you’re living in a family or friend’s house rent-free that is counted as an asset. For example, if the value of the total house rental is estimated to be $1000, then approximately a third, $300, may be subtracted from your monthly payment.

(Once you’re on, you’re on for the rest of your life, so congratulations in advance! However they are very suspicious about fraud so they may make it harder for you if you seem evasive or, like in a recent case I heard about, don’t want to give them full access to your bank account, which is a red flag for them.) 

You can receive Social Security (SSA), the system you paid into while working, while vacationing or living outside the country, but with Supplemental Security Income (SSI) you can only be out of the country for a month, then back for at least a month, before leaving again.

I encourage anyone eligible to apply for SSI, or if you know of any family or friends who are struggling, convince them to apply and help them navigate the process. I’m inclined to think that there’s a lot of old hippies living out in the hills around here who have lost their livelihoods and never paid much, or anything, into Social Security. That’s why we have SSI, to help those near the bottom economic rung of society from falling through the cracks and becoming destitute and/or homeless.

If you are under sixty-five and trying to get on SSI by being physically or mentally disabled and unable to work, you might be eligible but it will be harder and take longer to get approved, factoring in health records and examinations by doctors and psychiatrists. (I’m focusing here on what I consider the slam-dunk cases, the sixty-five or over demographic, but am also thinking a legally blind person of any age can probably qualify pretty easily.) 

There should be more outreach into the community to find those eligible and encourage and help them sign up. Maybe a grant-writer could get funds for the salary of a local SSI outreach worker, to find and help these who need help, and might not even be aware they are eligible for SSI. 

If a hundred people were helped to apply for and receive SSI in the following year, about two a week, not only would they be personally helped but that could create a cash infusion of over a million dollars a year into our struggling local economy, for the next decade or so. 

There are more details, rules, etc, but this is a start.

Any questions? Call Social Security at 800.772.1213 for all the answers. 

* * *

Update: Recently I called up the Social Security help-line to ask some questions for this guy I know, “Jackie Daniels,” who’s between stable housing and wasn’t sure what to say his residence was. I found the representative very informed, knew all the rules, and was helpful answering all my questions. 

Here is, paraphrased, what he said:

If your living situation is unstable and you’re staying in something like a shed in your friend’s backyard, or couch-surfing rent-free, then give Social Security the physical address of the location, and get a letter from the property owner saying you are living there.

If it’s just temporary, or you don’t know the physical address, or the owner doesn’t want to give you a letter, or you don’t want to ask him, then you are officially homeless, and you don’t have to produce the info about the address where you’re staying. 

Tell Social Security which one of these apply to you while on your phone application call. (According to their website you don’t need a residence or address to get SSI, they say they will find you to pay you.) 

This just in: Jackie Daniels got paid!