Multnomah County Chair Marissa Madrigal has sharply criticized the Social Security Administration's handling of a troubled nonprofit organization that manages the federal disability benefits of 1,000 individuals who may soon find themselves without a way to pay for rent, groceries and other necessities.
On March 6, first reported by Street Roots, agents with the Office of the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration served a warrant on Safety Net of Oregon on allegations that it was mismanaging the funds of its clients. Safety Net serves as a representative payee, an individual or organization appointed by the Social Security Administration to manage the disability benefits of people who are unable to handle their own money. Beginning April 1, Safety Net will cease operations, forcing its clients to find new payees.
Madrigal says that the Social Security Administration's approach of alerting Safety Net's clients that they need a new payee through a phone call or a letter is inadequate because many are homeless, may have changed their address or number or can be generally difficult to reach.
“The way that they've [Social Security Administration] 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.”
Madrigal says that the Social Security Administration did not alert the county or other social service providers that it planned to take action against Safety Net. She faults the administration for not being proactive in ensuring that Safety Net's old clients would be smoothly passed off to new payees.
A better approach, says Madrigal, would have been working with local social service agencies and the county, who would both be in a better position to reach people affected by the closure of Safety Net. Madrigal is now concerned that some of these clients will struggle to find a new payee in time and won't have access to their money.
“We need a warm hand-off here,” she says. “We had no warning. They didn't communicate with the county about that, and that's really disturbing considering that these people are our clients too.”
A letter from Madrigal to Portland's congressional delegation and Oregon's two senators, obtained by Street Roots, states that Safety Net clients have until March 21 to select a new payee or have their benefits disrupted. The letter also states that the county hasn't been able to help with outreach to people affected by Safety Net's closure because the Social Security Administration hasn't been forthcoming with information.
“The immediate result will be hundreds of disabled people will be unable to pay their rent, utilities and buy food,” reads the letter, which also states that the administration has been largely unsuccessful in reaching Safety Net clients.“Given the situation, they have no idea how to navigate the system to receive their benefits.”
Calling it unacceptable to give less than three-weeks notice to people with severe disabilities to find a new payee, the letter asks for help in extending the deadline. The letter also requests assistance in reaching out to the administration to keep Safety Net operating for at least another 90 days through a receivership or by appointing another payee organization. Lastly, the letter asks that Multnomah County, the City of Portland and Central City Concern, a large social services nonprofit, be provided with the names of people affected by Safety Net's closure so that they can help connect them with a new payee.
Street Roots is also in the process of a month's long investigation into the payee system and will dropping the story in the days to come.