SSI has become a controversial federal benefits program providing about $20 billion to low-income families with disabled children over the past two years, eclipsing traditional welfare programs to become the biggest source of monthly cash for the nation’s poorest families, new data shows.
“SSI is becoming a much bigger part of the safety net that serves low-income families,” said David Wittenburg, a senior researcher who studies disability programs, quoted in a front-page story in the Boston Globe. “It means we have to start thinking about that as a part of the whole system of supports that address poverty.”
Wittenburg also wants to see greater focus on ensuring that youth on SSI get work training and experience, helping them toward a life of “long-term independence.” He said more than six out of 10 teenagers on SSI qualify for and receive cash benefits in the adult SSI program when they turn 18.