Starting September 30, 2024, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is set to implement three new rules for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) that should help more people qualify for the program and increase monthly payments for some current recipients.
Millions of Americans stand to gain from the changes to SSI, which provides cash assistance to approximately 7.5 million individuals, including many who are disabled, with limited income and resources. The SSI rule changes are part of an effort by Social Security to improve SSI and address outdated practices.
Redefinition of Public Assistance Household
The latest SSI rule change will expand the definition of a “public assistance household.”
Current Social Security policy requires all household members to receive public assistance to meet this definition. But beginning in September, a public assistance household will be defined as one that has an SSI applicant or recipient and at least one other person who receives means-tested public income-maintenance (PIM) payments under programs that include SSI, Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and others.
The revised rule also expands the definition of a public assistance household to include households receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments. SNAP is the first PIM benefit added to SSA’s public assistance household definition since 1980.
According to SSA, the rule revisions will result in increased payments for approximately 277,000 current beneficiaries, or roughly 4% of all beneficiaries, and expand eligibility for SSI payments to an additional 109,000 individuals, a 1% increase.
Individuals living in public assistance households should face reduced reporting burdens as well, says SSA. Approximately 300,000 SSI beneficiaries were living in a public assistance household in 2023.
“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,” said Social Security Commissioner martin O’Malley. “These changes promote greater equity in our programs.”
Food No Longer Counted When Determining Benefits
A second major change coming to SSI in September involves what’s known as “in-kind support and maintenance” (ISM).
As of this fall, SSI will no longer count the food that a person receives from others—including family, friends, and community support networks—as unearned income, a move that is expected to help people applying for and receiving SSI.
Under the old policy, Social Security considered food, shelter, or both that a person received in its ISM calculation, potentially affecting their SSI eligibility or reducing their payment amount. Food ISM could be something as simple as getting help paying for groceries or a home cooked meal.
No longer counting food as ISM is anticipated to reduce the amount of information SSI beneficiaries must report, make the food ISM policy easier to understand, reduce variability in SSI payments from one month to the next, and provide administrative savings in the form of less time spent administering food ISM.
Despite the update, SSA will continue to ask beneficiaries who live in another person’s household whether somebody in that household pays for or provides them with all their meals. And the agency will still factor shelter expenses, such as rent, mortgage, and utility costs, into its ISM calculation.
The agency said in a press release that removal of food from ISM “removes a critical barrier for SSI eligibility due to an applicant’s or recipient’s receipt of informal food assistance.”
As of January 2022, SSA reportedly reduced the benefits of 793,000 SSI recipients because they received assistance with food or shelter.
Rental Subsidy Policy Expansion
The third scheduled SSI change relates to the program’s rental subsidy policy, making it less likely that renting at a discounted rate or other rental assistance will negatively impact SSI eligibility and benefit payments.
Under the updated rule, SSI will alter how it calculates the rental subsidy amount by expanding an exception that previously only applied in seven states (Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin) but in September will apply nationwide.
According to SSA, the policy change will raise benefit payments for certain recipients and allow more people to qualify for SSI benefits, but it does not affect how much SSA pays per month (a maximum of $943 in 2024).
The agency estimates that the rule tweak will increase payments by an average of $132/month for 41,000 people and allow 14,000 additional people to qualify for SSI annually. In the seven excepted states, application of the rental subsidy exception generally results in a higher SSI payment amount.
Even with the expanded rental subsidy policy, some recipients could see their monthly benefit amount reduced, and some applicants could be denied eligibility. The formula that SSA uses to determine the rental subsidy is complicated and includes the number of household members, as well as other sources of income.
Consult an SSI Attorney at Graham Law About SSI Rule Changes
These SSI rule changes will help more disabled Americans with little or no income pay for their basic needs. The changes should be automatic for current recipients. In addition, applicants who were previously denied benefits may now qualify.
But many of the policy terms and conditions can be confusing, adding to the already long and challenging SSI benefits process.
Anyone who has questions about how the new rules affect their SSI eligibility or payment amount can contact Graham Law for a free consultation.
