68 year old receives $740 in SS. Pays $719 for rent leaving $21 for everything else.

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51G0X820090217

Elderly New Yorkers angry as crisis hits poorest
Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:28pm EST

By Claudia Parsons

NEW YORK (Reuters) - From housebound grandmothers who rely on charity meal deliveries, to ailing retirees who cannot pay rising costs for medications, older Americans feeling the pinch of the financial crisis are getting angry and forming groups with names like "Senior Outrage."

In New York, with city and state tax revenues tumbling, benefits and services to the elderly are being cut, and many older residents are furiously drawing comparisons to the billions of dollars spent to bail out banks -- and pay Wall Street bonuses.

Dolores Green, 68, retired as a home help worker and lives on a government Social Security check of $740 a month. She pays $719 a month in rent, leaving just $21 for everything else.

To eat, she relies on the federal food stamp assistance program, and worries that her cost for some medication she needs for her diabetes has gone up to $8 from $3.

To get by, she said: "I run errands for seniors. They may hand me $2 or $3 or something."

[pnwmom]

1. Could she qualify for Section 8? Or SSI, which is for low-income elderly and

disabled? And she only gets $54 in food stamps even though she has no other income?

Something about this doesn't add up.

[Hello_Kitty]

7. It totally adds up.

Grandma, you can eat dog food in your old age! You should have brought yourself up by your bootstraps! :sarcasm:

[SoCalNative]

11. You don't want to live in section 8 housing

in NYC. And the amount she's paying for rent, section 8 in NYC is likely not that much less.

[pnwmom]

40. I thought Section 8 was a proportion of your income. Is that wrong? n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

42. It is but the better neighborhoods have less section 8 housing available.

[Why Syzygy]

58. They open up Section 8 lists for about five minutes every three years.

It isn't an ongoing available option. It is RARE. Some counties/communities have other options. You have to have a very good credit rating in many cases, better than for private rentals. Someone who has been living at poverty level for awhile, and with possibly medical conditions, does not have a credit worthiness.

[juno jones]

61. Heck, I'm guessing that she's got rent control.

I wouldn't give that up in NYC.

[sandnsea]

13. She should get $175 or so

unless she's claiming all those tips, in which case somebody ought to tell her to stop it.

[Hestia]

15. To figure Food Stamp Allotment, they use SS as income, and use that

as a fase for assistance. I personally think it sucks - a lot of seniors here get $10 a month for food stamps, figuring on SS amounts.

[appleannie1]

50. My mother got 427 a mth in SS. Qualified for 10 in food stamps.

She gracefully told them she would rather they give it to someone that actually needed it and be sure to tell them to share it since no one needs that much food in a month.

[Smarmie Doofus]

17. SSI would be lower than what she's getting from SS..

Not much lower , but lower.

She's also lucky to be paying 740 in rent. In NYC, that's a steal; even in the outer boroughs. She must have lucked into a rent stabilized apartment and has stayed put for about thirty years.

[pnwmom]

39. People on Social Security can be eligible for SSI, in addition to Social Security,

if their total incomes are low.

[silverojo]

54. In her case, the SSI payment would be lower than her SS payment

That's what happened to my mom. She found out that she was better off getting the $700+ per month.

It's a freakin' crime, how our seniors are being treated!

[dmr]

46. Maybe not so lucky -

We've no idea what her living conditions are; whether it is healthy and safe.

[ColbertWatcher]

36. You'd think. But what if she doesn't know about them?

What if they're not available to her?

There is something seriously wrong regardless why she isn't getting every cent due her.

[aquart]

44. Depends on what state she's in, doesn't it?

Or are food stamps nationally uniform?

[sandnsea]

56. She's in New York

and her income should qualify her for a good amount of food stamps unless she's claiming those tips, which could put her out of the range for help.

[Why Syzygy]

59. I wish the article

gave more information about the food stamps. There is a limit on how long one can receive them.
Perhaps there is a tapering off until finally she doesn't get any?

[sandnsea]

70. Between 18 and 50

That doesn't apply to senior citizens. I hope the stimulus lifted that limit because it is going to get ugly otherwise. I forgot about that too. Limiting food stamps is ridiculous because single people working minimum wage can't afford to pay all their bills either.

[PM Martin]

2. This IS the LEGACY of Conservatives and Economic Libertarians!

:argh:

[D-Lee]

65. YES! and the Repugs complain about employers giving workers retirement and health benefits

Yup, let's attack those horrible auto companies who have good retirement and health plans ...

Hey, it is a "free" shift of workers to the public rolls to the employers.

But, despite how poorly it works out for our seniors, let's keep on attacking those irresponsible employers.

True.

Sarcasm involved here ...

[Puzzler]

3. That's a bad landlord...

... clearly her rent should be raised to $740. The thought of a whole $21 going "spare" is unbearable.

(sarcasm!!!)

[dkf]

6. ouch.

[dkf]

4. Does Dolores get anything from the stimulus package?

I hope she does.

[CountAllVotes]

14. likely nothing

I know many other senior citizens in this same situation. She might own a car worth a few thousand $ or something like that and hence she won't qualify for any "assistance" or SSI.

This group has been forgotten completely in the not so great "stimulus" plan ... :grr:

:kick:

[JanusAscending]

27. Sorry, but you're wrong.

Private property, ie house, car, furnishings and personal belongings do not count as income where SS benefits are concerned. I know, because I'm one of those from the forgotten generation! Because I'm a widow, I'm collecting almost twice what she is getting, so I don't qualify for food stamps. I do however qualify for the State to pay my Medicare payment every month. I own an old 88 Mazda, and a double wide mobile home(but I have to pay rent, as I lease the land it's on.) The only other income that can be counted
regarding her benefits is Savings, investments, bonds etc.,etc.
She must be on Medicare by now (I HOPE she is) Because with part D added in, one only has to pay $2.00 to $5.00 per prescription. I am counting my blessings, because until I read her story, I thought I had it bad!!! God bless her, she's going to need help from somewhere.:cry: Oh! P.S. I heard tonight on my local news that retirees on S.S. will be getting a one time check of $250.00 within the next 4 months! from the stimulous pkg.

[CountAllVotes]

29. maybe she has an investment

like an annuity she is waiting on. She must own something that is disqualifying her from any more assistance.

As for assistance - Section 8 ... that program barely exists any longer.

This is just one of many others I know of.

My mother's best friend is still alive and is 88 years old. She gets $875.00 a month. Luckily she has two kids that help her out so she signed her house over to them. However, she owns too much to qualify for any help otherwise.

Sad situation at best, esp. when 88 years old and going blind. :( :( :(

On edit: I heard those on SSI are getting $250 from the stimulus, not SSA or SSDI recipients. :wtf:

[progressoid]

5. Delores needs to pull herself up by her bootstraps.

Freeloader

:sarcasm:

[Hello_Kitty]

10. Beat me to it!

What a slacker that Delores is!

:sarcasm:

[pnwmom]

43. No, but she might have more resources available to her, like SSI, and

low income housing for the elderly, that she should apply for. I don't understand why her food stamp amount is so low -- that makes no sense if the only income she's reporting is the $700 in Social Security.

[Enthusiast]

68. Another favorite Reichwing saying is

"She should have made better life decisions." I've been hearing that one frequently.

[Muttocracy]

8. that's why my mom moved in with me

:(

[louis c]

67. I have mine with me, also

and I feel fulfilled by doing so. However, the government should do more for our seniors, not less

[Dukkha]

9. my plan for retirement

is to have the mortgage paid off on the house then rent the rooms out to other seniors so we can pool our ss resources together.

[TahitiNut]

12. Believe me, that's not a new idea.

I have an "agreement in principle" with one of my best friends (a female) to do essentially that. It's not "room rental" - it'd be a domestic partnership (without "benefits"). It's a daunting prospect.

[juno jones]

62. I have a couple of friends

We have decided to be crones together.

Kinda like the golden girls, only witchier.

[SoCalNative]

16. Already been done

haven't you ever seen "The Golden Girls?" :rofl:

[WillieW]

34. duplicate deleted.

[WillieW]

35. That is a very smart idea!

[flvegan]

18. Yeah well blowing the shit out of Iraq costs money.

Then, to occupy it illegally costs more. Plus we have to bail out all the big businesses here.

There are only so many trillions of dollars to go around. Sorry, Dolores, but "America" is a bit different than she was in the good old days.

[slipslidingaway]

23. "There are only so many trillions of dollars to go around." !!! n/t

[Jack_Dawson]

19. Why is she relying on SS?

Sad story - but who the hell would live their whole life w/ 100% reliance on SS at the finish line?

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. She had a low paying job her whole life. Maybe never married. It happens.

[HillbillyBob]

21. I sure as hell did not plan on getting to the finish line with zero$

that was how the finish line got to me.

[Jack_Dawson]

22. Yeah upon re-thinking this...

Shit happens. Maybe a medical emergency or divorce or lawsuit. That sux.

:grouphug:

[CountAllVotes]

25. my late mother worked her entire life

she got $191.00 a month from social security and a small pension from her Federal job that she worked for 30 years as a clerk - that was another $750.00.

She was not able to draw my father's social security after he died being she was a retired Federal worker. He got $575.00 a month. No widows benefits were paid to her but a mere $250.00 after he died (death benefit).

And she worked all those years ...

Low wage jobs and a woman. What else could explain this.

:(

[Raster]

28. It may come as a surprise, but for some SS at the finish line is all they have.

Not everyone has had the opportunity for a pension, for a 401K or a nice little trust fund. There is a whole segment of the population that believed the promises about social security and counts on it for retirement.

And you do realize, of course, that this "the greatest country on the planet," the good ol' U-S-of-A is the only major industrialized country that throws our elderly to the financial wolves once we've sucked them dry? Work your entire life at shitty fucking jobs and then retire to a life of abject poverty. Ah yes, the American dream.

[Hannah Bell]

64. For 1/3 of those over 65, SS is it. & I bet none of them planned it that

way, & most did the best they could at the time.

2/3 rely on SS for 50% or more of their income.

It's only about 1/3 of those over 65 sitting (somewhat) pretty.

Which kind of mirrors the general income distribution.

[JDPriestly]

32. Because she made minimum wage as a home health worker

and before that she may have been a housewife and mother.

That's just one of many scenarios. Unfortunately, the disparity in incomes between upper - middle classes and then the poor means that people with similar incomes live in the same neighborhoods, at least in cities. Therefore, people like you Jack_Dawson (assuming your comment was serious and not meant ironically) don't know how many, many people live, how very, very poor they are, how they struggle all their lives.

It is also possible that she and her husband saved a lot of money but that it was spent on health care prior to their eligibility for Social Security.

[juno jones]

63. You'd obviously be surprised.

A lot of people spend their productive lives in skilled professions that offer few or no benefits.

They like to remind me every so often that after 30 years spent variously laboring at jobs like making other people money with my skills and birthing and caring for future taxpayers I'm getting somewhere around $330 a month.


My latest job offers benefits. But you must reach the magic mark of 38-40 hous a week to get that. Does anyone but management get 38-40 hours a week? Not bloody likely, mate.

[Sirveri]

24. Why does she stay in NYC?

I know moving costs money, but there must be cheaper locales than NYC to live in that would actually allow her to live slightly more easily than she currently is. Or would she lose her benies? I don't know much about SS or SSI or most of this senior type stuff since I'm still pretty young.

[JanusAscending]

30. I have an extra room she could have if she ....

wanted to move to CT.!!! I would be reluctant to move anywhere at this time of my life. I'm 70, she's 68. Does anyone know how hard it is to find a Dr. that will take new Medicare patients????? She probably has a Dr. giving her 'scripts for her meds. That's the only reason I ever see my Dr.,unless I'm really sick. So I can keep those meds covered. You can't get meds without a Dr.:shrug:

[Mojorabbit]

31. I don't think it would be easy

to move at that age and start over in a strange place without your friends or social support system you have built up over the years.

[JDPriestly]

33. Moving can be very confusing to older people.

If their memories are not so good, they have trouble finding their things in new housing.

[Sirveri]

55. I know it's not easy, navy life taught me that. But it's probably the better choice.

Not saying it's the best choice. Don't tons of old folks move out of cities when they retire? I know it's what my mom did, though she can still barely make it. It's a shitty situation all around, but if she can find a place in the boonies for 400/mo that's somewhat close to family/freinds then that's an extra couple hundred a month. It's just a screwed up system, but the system is also WAD. She was poor while working, so she didn't put as much into SS as others so she gets less out now that she can draw. I think it probably says more about the price of housing in this country and its lack of affordability more than anything else.

[eilen]

69. The rent may include heat and hot water.

I know she could find cheaper rent here but it wouldn't include everything, then the power/heat bill would kill her. There are programs like HEAP for the power bills but they are limited.

There is senior housing that is indexed to your income in NY, I don't know how many in NYC but there are other places with buses and trains than Manhattan (is she really in Manhattan?). I know in upstate NY we have quite a few.

My Mom lives on SSN with some supplementation. I don't know how much she would like having to be roommates with someone that wasn't family. She does not qualify for food stamps where she lives.

[Muttocracy]

74. in addition to the other reasons people listed, you can get around on public transit there

I think that's one reasons seniors stay in cities that might seem very expensive.

[TreasonousBastard]

26. I've been reading these stories for at least 40 years...

and if someone in the nooz wants to grab at heartstrings, there's always a bunch of seniors barely making it.

That doesn't make it right, of course, but the thing is-- every time one of these stories makes the nooz, everyone shakes their collective heads and whines about how bad things are BUT NOBODY DOES A DAMN THING ABOUT IT.

Where is the senior housing, the food assistance, all the rest of it? NYC is just one of the biggest cities going broke and having to cancel what programs they have because even in the good times nobody wants to pay taxes-- even if it means their mothers could starve.

[WillieW]

37. And this is happening in the richest country on earth? shameful.!

[1]

38. dolores needs to move. knock that rent down to $350-$400 and she has a better chance...

move dolores, move...

[Liberal_in_LA]

41. $350 rent? Where? in Appalachia? Older people need access to public transportation

markets, senior citizen centers, to be able to walk outside safely.

[1]

45. bud... rents cheaper than what dolores is paying are available all over this country...

even in new york. dolores needs to find a cheaper place to live and move there. then dolores will have more disposable income each month to live on.

this is dolores' best chance. she should do this...

[dysfunctional press]

47. she could share a place with someone(s).

nothing wrong with having roommates to afford a better place for all involved.

[1]

48. yeah, like that... n/t.

[leftstreet]

51. Yes! She should move and let people with money have the city

She's old anyway

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[1]

52. or she could stay and try to live on that $21. what is your point?

[high density]

72. So people need to live within their means?

Spending nearly 100% of your income on housing obviously is not a sustainable situation. There are more affordable places to live than NYC. I don't see how we can subsidize people who want to live in a place they can't afford. Part of our current crisis is rooted in this practice.

[BamaGirl]

49. This is awful :(

My dad retired at the end of 07, at 65, but ended up having to go back to work when my niece, my brother's daughter, got diagnosed with cancer. At first it was just to help them out, ya know? Since someone has to be with her all the time my sil hasn't been working. (She's 3 and the daycare center isn't taking the responsibility.) Then of course, the economy imploded and my brother was a mechanic at a big dealership in Atlanta. He got laid off on Dec 29. The day before his girl had a major cancer surgery. Those jerks knew it too. Anyway, that's a different rant. So my brother hasn't been able to find a job and his employer is fighting his unemployment claim cause he missed so much work before they laid him off. Cause, hello!? His kid has cancer! Of course he was going to miss some work! So my Dad is still working, trying to pay off everything he can but my parents mortgage, and help with my brother's bills cause that is a hot mess. When I get my tax return I'm giving most of it to my Dad. They need it more than we do right now and my brother won't take it from me. But man, it pisses me the fuck off. My Dad shouldn't have to be working at 67 because his son got laid off and his granddaughter has cancer, ya know?

[Mr. Hyde]

53. Let's all send her a monthly check for a dollar then. That should help.

[woo me with science]

57. It would...

if there were only one Dolores.

[RebelOne]

60. I really feel bad for that lady.

I am 70 years old and receive social security, but mine is $1400 a month. I am also working full time. I would like to retire, but I could not survive on just social security. Am also paying off a Chapter 13 bankruptcy at over $700 a month, which will not be paid in full for another 3 years, so I'll just have to keep on working.

[a kennedy]

66. I just cried when I read this.......

the poorest of the poor aren't getting a dime in this whole recovery package....... it's just so sad...... :cry:

[jmg257]

71. That sucks. I hope the market gets moving again so our 401ks start making some money.

[Quantess]

73. Sad.