Facts About SSI and IHSS

							                     Facts About SSI and IHSS
SSI Demographics - About 1.2 million        housing costs exceeded the grant even
blind, aged and disabled persons rely on    though California had increased the
payments received from the SSI/SSP          grant. By 2004 the grant was more than
program. 127,000 of these are children      $100 less than the FMR for a one
under age 18                                bedroom unit.

   85% of IHSS recipients receive          COLA Suspension Results in Loss of
                                            Aid and Increased Health Costs -
    SSI/SSP                                 About 1,200 recipients may lose
   57 % of the caseload are women          eligibility for the SSI/SSP program due
                                            to the Governor’s decision to suspend
   43% of the caseload are men             the pass through of the federal COLA. It
   37% of the caseload is white            will cause some recipients to lose
                                            SSI/SSP because of the lowering of the
   14% of the caseload is Asian            maximum grant amount. Losing
   14% of the caseload is Latino           SSI/SSP eligibility will result in those
                                            persons becoming “share of cost”
   12% of the caseload is African-         MediCal recipients.
    American
                                            IHSS
   10% of the caseload is children
                                             About 43 % of the IHSS providers are
    under age 18                              relative providers who live with the
   3% of children on SSI are in the          IHSS recipient and provide direct care.
    child welfare system                     Reducing IHSS wages will impact the
SSI Recipients Don’t Receive Food             number of well-qualified IHSS
Stamps - California is the only state in      workers and impair the ability of
the country that has cashed out               recipients to retain skilled IHSS
recipient’s eligibility for federal Food      workers.
Stamps and only 1% of SSI recipients
report income from work. This means          Estimated that 40 % of IHSS workers
California recipients must pay for            are immigrants. For most immigrants,
everything from rent to utilities to          IHSS is their first entry level job.
transportation to food from their
SSI/SSP check.                               10 % of the IHSS workers are Chinese
                                             6% IHSS workers are Filipino
SSI Losing Ground to Housing Costs -         4.5 % IHSS workers are Vietnamese
Just five years ago the SSI/SSP grant       
completely covered the statewide Fair       By: Western Center on Law and Poverty and
Market Rent for a one bedroom unit and      California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative,
left $61 a month for food, transportation   June 2005
and utilities. But beginning in 2001,