Under Gov. Peter Shumlin’s proposed budget, families that receive assistance through the state’s Reach Up program would see a cut to their benefits if an adult member of the household receives Social Security disability benefits.
The budget proposes to factor the $125 federal monthly Supplemental Security Income (SSI) sum into the household income that is used to calculate benefits under Reach Up. In turn, that would take a chunk out of the benefits that the family receives under the state’s assistance program for families with children.
The administration says the proposal could save the state more than $1.6 million. The cut would impact more than 1,100 households, according to figures the Department for Children and Families presented to the House Appropriations Committee earlier this week.
Under Reach Up, families with children receive a modest benefit, ranging upwards from $475 per month, depending on the household’s need. The program is intended to encourage families to work, with the aim of helping them reach financial independence.
As it stands, the SSI benefit is not factored into the household income when calculating the Reach Up benefit. However, the SSI recipient is not counted as a household member — so a four-member family with one SSI recipient counts as a three-member family in Reach Up’s eyes.
For Reach Up families with a member on SSI, the cut would come as a hard hit, according to Christopher Curtis, a staff attorney at Vermont Legal Aid. Curtis also co-chairs the Governor’s Council on Pathways from Poverty.
“It’s really the wrong policy at the wrong time for the wrong families,” Curtis said on Thursday.
If somebody is receiving the SSI benefit, they need the money, Curtis said, whether for transportation to medical appointments, special equipment, or clothing.
“Vermonters with disabilities have high needs,” Curtis said.
Under the new policy, the state would not factor the $125 disability benefit into the Reach Up calculations if the SSI recipient is a child. That was among Vermont Legal Aid’s chief concerns.
DCF has not decided yet whether the $125 will factor into the total household income for families where the SSI recipient is an adult, but the money goes to a representative payee to manage the funds on their behalf.
Curtis says that would put the representative payee in a difficult situation, possibly encouraging them to break the conditions of the federal grant, using the money for something the family needs instead of something specific to the SSI recipient.
In the long run, the cut to Reach Up household payments might make it difficult for families to graduate out of the program, Curtis said. He noted that extra pressure would be on now, since the state implemented a 60-month deadline for Reach Up recipients last year.
Last year, the legislature passed a law intended to counter the “benefits cliff” — when somebody is discouraged from working for longer hours or more money because it would seriously knock back the amount they get in benefits.
The Shumlin administration’s proposed budget for FY2016 includes the provision to cushion the blow when an increase in income results in the scaling back of Reach Up benefits.
“I’m very happy the governor included that in his budget,” Curtis said. But, he added, “that should not be a trade-off for the families with severely disabled household members to fund it.”
According to Sean Brown, of the Department for Children and Families, Reach Up is the state’s only program that does not consider SSI when determining the benefits a family receives.
Reached by phone on Thursday, Brown said that a Reach Up household with a member that receives SSI benefits has “more resources” than a family that does not.
“Any impact or reduction in a household benefit is worrisome,” Brown said.
Previous administrations have made similar proposals, according to Rep. Ann Pugh, D-South Burlington, but she said the Legislature will have to consider this provision in its own right.
“We need to look at everything with fresh eyes,” Pugh said.
She expects the House Human Services Committee, which she chairs, will take testimony on the proposal in the coming weeks, especially because it impacts some of the most vulnerable families in Vermont.
“$125 may not seem like a lot to some Vermonters,” Pugh said. “But for Vermonters living in deep poverty, that’s a lot of money.”
