Benefits For Mental Illness

People who are homeless and have serious mental illnesses need much more than housing. Besides a stable address and steady income, they also need access to the mental health and substance abuse treatment that could help them take the first steps to recovery.

Obtaining benefits from the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) can play a crucial role in access to housing and services needed for a homeless person’s return to a life in the community. These benefits include Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).

Why are these benefits so critical? Because in addition to providing a monthly income, SSI can offer eligibility for Medicaid. And that means a way to pay for treatment.

SSA approves 37 percent of initial disability applications from all people who apply. For applicants who are homeless, however, that percentage may drop to 15 percent. Although appeals can increase the approval rate for all applications from 37 percent up to 53 percent, the process can take years.

When homeless individuals start receiving benefits, state and local governments may be able to recoup the cost of providing general assistance, interim health insurance, or previously uncompensated health care. And, health care providers may receive Medicaid payments for services that otherwise would not be reimbursed. That’s a special incentive for hospitals to support SOAR efforts. With Medicaid reimbursement, hospitals have more capacity to treat homeless people, who have little or no income and assets.

But even though it’s to a community’s advantage for homeless persons to receive the SSA benefits they need, there are many challenges.

Lack of Documentation! Sometimes, homeless individuals literally haven’t even been able to make it through the door. For access to Federal buildings, people usually must show a driver’s license, birth certificate, or some other form of identification. Many individuals who are homeless don’t have such identification.

Also, when individuals can submit documentation of their disability along with their application, this speeds up the process considerably. Many people who are homeless have a hard time collecting that documentation.

Feelings of Hopelessness! Rejection may cause discouragement. “Many homeless individuals have lost hope after applying unsuccessfully again and again,” explained Lawrence Rickards, Ph.D., Chief of the Homeless Programs Branch at CMHS. “Others have had negative encounters with bureaucracies in the past or have symptoms of serious mental illness—for example, paranoia.

That makes asking for help difficult.” And because these individuals lack an address, they are not easy for the SSA to find—even if their applications are approved.