SSI Recipients Are No Longer Penalized for Accepting Food
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a federal program administered by the Social Security Administration that provides assistance to individuals with disabilities and limited resources (assets) and income to help them cover basic living expenses.
SSI is a means tested public benefit, which means that a person’s means – income and assets – are “tested” to determine whether the person qualifies for the benefit they’re seeking. To qualify for SSI, a person’s income must be below a certain threshold per month – currently $967 if unmarried and $1,450 if married – and his or her countable assets cannot be above $2,000. Certain assets are excluded from a person’s countable assets, such as the person’s homestead (if any), one vehicle per household, and most personal belongings and household goods. If income and assets are under the maximums allowed, the person may qualify to receive the benefit, and if over, the person does not qualify. The SSI benefit amount depends on the amount and nature of a recipient’s income, but the maximum monthly benefit amount for 2025 is $967 per month.
Prior to September 30, 2024, an SSI recipient’s income included food and shelter provided or paid by someone other than the recipient – commonly referred to as “in-kind support and maintenance (ISM)”. If the recipient received food or shelter from friends, family, charities, a trust, or anyone else, the amount of the recipient’s monthly SSI benefit would be reduced by the value of the food and shelter he or she received (i.e., “dollar-for-dollar”), up to a maximum of one-third of the monthly benefit.
Effective September 30, 2024, food is no longer included in ISM calculations. This means that the value of food provided by another will no longer reduce a recipient’s SSI payment. The provision of shelter by another to a recipient will still be considered ISM and reduce the recipient’s SSI payment though. According to the Social Security Administration, the decision to remove food from ISM calculations was made to simplify the rules by making them less cumbersome to administer and easier for the public to understand and follow and to improve the equitable treatment of food assistance within the SSI program. Additionally, the Social Security Administration will see administrative savings because less time will be spent calculating and administering ISM for food. It is also important to note that until March 9, 2005, the value of clothing was included in ISM calculations if clothes were provided to the SSI recipient by another person.
Apart from the practical conveniences that the new policy will provide, it will afford greater access to food for vulnerable members of our society, namely the blind, disabled, and elderly. However, SSI alone still only provides a meager existence for recipients. While the monthly income maximum for SSI has kept up with inflation since the mid-1970s, the countable asset limit has stayed the same ($2,000) since 1989. The federal poverty level for 2025 is $15,650 for a household of one person, meaning that if a single person has a monthly income of below $1,304.17, then that person is considered to be impoverished. Therefore, SSI’s maximum monthly benefit of $967 is 26% below the federal poverty line of $1,304.17 in monthly income.
Even though this latest policy change has simplified following SSI rules and preventing inadvertent reductions in benefits for SSI recipients, there are still a number of unintended consequences that can result from being unfamiliar with the nuances of SSI. In difficult or unsure situations, it is probably best to seek the advice of an attorney who is experienced with governmental benefits.
Nothing contained in this publication should be considered as the rendering of legal advice to any person’s specific case but should be considered general information.