4 SSI Benefits Updates You May Have Missed

Over the past year, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has been making numerous improvements to its Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. These changes, some of which became official this past week, will make things a bit easier for SSI applicants as well as current recipients.

What Is Supplemental Security Income?

The SSI program serves more than 7 million individuals (as of early 2024). This federal program helps support adults age 65 or older and people with disabilities who have limited income and resources. To qualify for SSI, an individual cannot have income or assets that exceed strict set thresholds. In most states, this threshold is just $2,000.

An individual SSI recipient can receive a maximum federal benefit of $943 per month in 2024. Depending on where you live, your state may also provide an additional small supplement. The SSI benefit is intended to assist individuals in paying for basic needs, such as food and medicine.

However, any unearned income that an SSI enrollee receives in any given month could put their benefits at risk – either reducing or even eliminating them altogether.  The rules can quickly become complicated, so anyone seeking to apply for SSI should consider partnering with a special needs planning attorney who is familiar with the ins and outs of the program.

The Latest Changes to SSI

1. “Free food” no longer counts as unearned income for SSI recipients.

One of the recent major shifts in the SSI rules concerns food. Historically, the SSA counted “free food” as part of an SSI recipient’s unearned income. Gifting someone who relies on SSI benefits a grocery store gift card or a bag of groceries or taking them out for a meal at a restaurant could end up negatively impacting them under the SSA’s “in-kind support and maintenance” rules.

Thankfully, this rule ended as of September 30, 2024. (Read more about this particular update in a related article.)

2. SSI benefits will not automatically be reduced for all SSI recipients paying less than current market value for their housing.

Also as of September 30, 2024, the SSA changed its rental subsidy program for SSI. In essence, this update seeks to standardize the rules for all SSI recipients nationwide regarding the SSA’s rental subsidy exceptions. (Check out further details on this expanded rule in a related article.) The SSA estimates that the policy update will not only make thousands of people newly eligible for SSI every year but may also result in an uptick in monthly SSI benefits for many current recipients.

3. The definition of “public assistance household” has expanded.

The way the SSA defines “public assistance households” has undergone a shift, too. For instance, the SSA used to require all members of a household to be recipients of public assistance in order for the household to count as a public assistance household. As of September 30, 2024, this is no longer the case. The SSA states that this update will also help make more households eligible for SSI benefits and could boost benefit payments for some recipients.

4. The SSA will no longer withhold an SSI recipient’s whole monthly benefits check if they received an overpayment.

In the past, SSI recipients who may have mistakenly received more than their allocated monthly benefit – sometimes as a result of an error the SSA made – found themselves missing out on subsequent payments. The SSA would withhold 100 percent of a person’s monthly benefits until it had corrected for an overpayment. This led to some people losing their homes or the ability to keep up with their bills.

As of late March 2024, the SSA made a change to this policy as well. It now withholds just 10 percent (or $10 – whichever is greater) of benefits each month for overpayments.

Behind the SSA Policy Shifts

Over the past year, Martin O’Malley, who was signed in as the new commissioner of the SSA in late 2023, has been championing numerous efforts to streamline the SSI program – what he’s called “a lifeline for millions of Americans” – and make it more accessible for those in need.

“By simplifying and expanding our policies, we are making SSI smarter, removing barriers to accessing payments, and reducing the burden on the public and agency staff,” he said in a recent statement.