Street roots., April 11, 2014, Page 4, Image 4

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street roots
April 11, 2014
payee.
filed a complaint in federal court against the
Hernandez disagreed with this approach
Social Security Administration. The
and ruled that the Social Security
complaint alleged that the administration
navigate the situation.”
Administration would be required to assign a
violated the law by not assigning a new
Some former Safety Net clients suffer from
new payee to each Safety Net client that
payee to every former Safety Net client,
severe paranoia or other ailments and are
hadn’t found one. Since the court ruling, it’s
ensuring that their benefits wouldn’t be
resistant to entering a Social Security office
been crunch time to find new payees for
interrupted.
where they have to go through a security
Safety Net’s clients.
The complaint was filed on behalf of six of
checkpoint, not unlike those at courthouses -
“The Social Security Administration is
Safety
Net’s
clients,
which
are
described
as
a place many associate with going to jail.
working around the clock and through the
homeless or near homeless, as well as
The worry is palpable in Eric Cothrell’s
weekend to ensure that beneficiaries receive
homeless outreach organization JOIN. The
voice when reached by phone. Cothrell, a
their April payments in full and on time,” said
complaint states that theseindividuals either
50-year-old former client of Safety Net, saw
Stanley Friendship,
didn’t get notice from
the sign at the nonprofit’s office telling him
Social Security
Social Security that
he needed to go to the Social Security office
The Social Security
regional commissioner,
they would need t o ,
to find a new payee. He says he heard
in a prepared
Administration told Kathy
find a new payee or
something about an “appeal” regarding the
statement issued
have been unable to
situation and seems confused and distraught
WIld@r legal director for
March 28.
find
one.
With
their
He says he hashad a death in the family
D isability Bights pregon,
Kathleen Roy,
benefits about to be
recently and he’s been doing “really shitty.”
director of mental
that the clients s till need to
suspended, some of
He says he hasn’t gone into the Social
health services at
these individuals faced come Into the office to seal
Security office to get assigned a new payee,
Central City Concern,
the imminent
and it’s unclear if he understands that he
the deal, which she says
a large social service
possibility that they
needs to or is going to. He is worried about
agency with its own
would be unable to pay defeats the whole point of
getting his rent paid.
payee program, said
rent and would be
the court order. Recent
Street Roots vendor John Munro, 57, says
she had received
evicted, according to
he entrusted his inheritance to Safety Net,
estimates suggest that snore that
no outreach or
the complaint One of
which has served as his payee for the past 10
1OO former clients are coordination from the
years. Munro, who has a handle bar mustache them would be unable
Social Security
s till without a payee, a
to make payments he
and punctuates his ragged voice with a
Administration.
boisterous laugh, isn’t quite sure what’s going owes as part of his
situation that concerns
Central City Concern
probation and may go
on with his money at Safety Net.
Wilde. "That's going to he a picked up 17 new
back to jail.
“I just hope I wasn’t ripped off,” he says.
lot of rent not paid," she
Clients for its payee
JOIN would have
Munro was assigned another payee based in
program, which has
had its finances and
McMinnville, which he says he’s fine with as
says.
capacity for between
resources strained as
long as his bills are paid.
110 and 120 clients, at
it devptes more aid to
a very rapid rate, which has been stressful for
former Safety Net clients, according to the
staff, she said.
complaint JOIN’S contractual obligation with
“Thirty days is not enough time to*
the City of Portland to move a certain
n March 14, Multnomah County Chair
transition people and there has not been any
number of homeless individuals off the street
Marissa Madrigal sent a letter to
flexibility around the rules in terms of how
Portland’s congressional delegation criticizing could be harmed by Safety Net’s closure, the
people get set up and established,” she said.
the Social Security Administration for not
complaint states.
Additionally, Roy said that some Safety Net
When the Social Security Administration’s
being proactive in ensuring that Safety Net’s
clients were released from the requirement
^regional manager, Cory Burgess, was
clients would be smoothly passed off to new
that they have a payee and were granted
payees. The letter stated that the Social
informed that some Safety Net clients'suffer
contrQl_of. th e y own money bv the Social
from paranoia and are ij-eln ^n t
font
Security Administration did not do enough to
SAFETY NET, from page 3
0
contacrroraiorS afefy Net'clierits arid th at it
in a governm ent office he is quoted in, the
SecurityAdm inistration, which m ight be fine
did not alert the county or other social
service providers that it planned to take
action against the nonprofit. ;
“The way that [the Social Security
Administration) has gone about it has been
totally unacceptable and disconnected from
the reality of these peoples’ lives,” Madrigal
told Street Roots. “I’m sure that they have
good reasons for closing [Safety Net] down,
but to send letters to people, many of whom
are homeless and don’t have addresses, and
call it a day, that’s totally unacceptable. It
would be difficult for anyone who’s facing a
disruption like this to their income to fix it in
three weeks.”
Kathy Wilde, legal director for Disability
Rights Oregon, says that it’s unreasonable for
the Social Security Administration to put
such a burden on such a vulnerable
population. She also says it’s illegal.
On March 24, just days before Safety
Net’s closure date of April 1, Disability
Rights Oregon, the Oregon Law Center and
the National Senior Citizens Law Center
complaint as replying, “Well, they’ll be in next
month when they don’t get their money.”
But that could be too late. Without those
checks, bills and rent go unpaid.
During the March 26 court hearing
regarding the lawsuit, Janice Hebert,
assistant U.S.attorney, told ILS. District
Judge Marco Hernandez that the Social
Security Administration had been proactive in
attempting to find new payees for Safety Net
clients. She said that Share & Care House, a
Washington-based nonprofit, has has been
actively working to enroll Safety Net clients in
its payee service.
“It’s simply not good enough to transfer
over to another organization,” she said,
noting that Safety Net’s records are a mess.
“That’s the problem.”
She also said that she expected there to be
a wave of people at the Social Security
Administration offices after the first of April
when they realized there was a problem. At
this point, she said clients would be issued an
emergency check; and signed up with a new
in some cases. However, “since the process
to establish a payee in terms of a medical/
clinical opinion has not been used to
determine if folks are ready based on skill
development to assume the responsibility of
managing money, it seems contradictory to
have evaluation to determine the need and
then a criste with an agency to be the basis
for removing that requirement,” she said.
1,800 payee clients in Oregon and
Washington, says Charlene Hamblen, the
nonprofit’s executive director. Hamblen
anticipates that Share & Care House will take
about 700 of Safety Net’s clients. She also ;
said Share & Care House is looking into
setting up a more permanent presence in
Portland so clients won’t have to make the
trek to its office in Tigard to pick up checks.
“The one thing I’ve noticed being down
here is th a t despite it being a difficult
situation, everyone has been so cooperative,”
says Ann Mohageri, regional communications
director for th e Social Security
Administration, speaking to Street Roots on a
•shuttle bus that’s been arranged to transport
Safety Net’s clients from the nonprofit’s sooh-
to-he-shuttered office to the Social Security
office downtown. “Everyone just wants to
help.”
It’s the morning of April J, and the bus,
says Mohageri, will be running all week so
that Safety Net clients who show up expecting
a check as usual can get á new payee quickly.
Mohageri says the Social Security
Administration has been aggressively getting
the word out about the situation, working
with local social service agencies and handing
out fliers at placea where Safety Net clients
might be.
During the morning, two people took the
bus to get a new client Both of them say they
heard about the situation word-of-mouth.
At the Social Security office, Wilde, of
Disability Rights Oregon, is there making
phone calls and monitoring thesituation. She
says that she’s still having trouble with the
Social Security Administration.
The Social Security Administration told her
that the clients still need to come into the
office to seal the deal, which she says defeats
the whole point of the court order. Recent
estimates suggest that moré than Í00 former
clients are still without a payee, a situation
that concerns Wilde.
“T hat’s going to be a lot of re n t riot paid,”
she says1.
Monica Goracke, managing attorney for
the Oregon Law Center’s Portland office, says
that after the judge’s ruling, the Social
Security Administration went to great efforts
and went outside of its normal procedures to
prevent Safety Net clients from having their
benefits disrupted. This point was made by
Hernández, says Groácke, during an April 8
follow-up hearing on the court order.
However, Goracke says that there are still
130 former Safety Net clients who’ve been
assigned to Share & Care House but still
here are about a dozen payee services in
have not made it to the offices of the
the Portland area that have a wide range
in capacity. Since Safety Net’s closure, some nonprofit nor the Social Security
Administration to finalize the arrangement.
have been open to taking new clients. But
Goracke says that some of these individuals
many of Safety Net’s clients appear to be
going to out-of-town operations.
couldhe iii the hospital or even deceased.
Share & Care House, a large social
She says some may have left town and some
services agency based in Pierce County,
might still get an eviction notice,
Washington, has had a presence in Portland’s
“Once people come to Safety Net or Social
Social Security office since early March to
Security there are good procedures to get
sign up Safety Net clients for its payee
them their money,” says Goracke. “It’s just a
service. Currently, Share & Care House has
matter of where they could be.”
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