Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless   

Emergency Aid to Elderly, Disabled & Children (EAEDC)

Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Campaign Endorsement Form

Redirect Annual Federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Reimbursements for Payments Made To EAEDC Recipients That Convert to SSI Back Into the EAEDC Program and Use This Money to Fund a Cost of Living Increase for Program Recipients. (Line Item 4408-1000).

Funded at $69.9 million in FY ’08, the EAEDC program provides monthly income support payments to 17,000 households.  69% of these EAEDC recipients are people with disabilities (56% of these disabled households receive help because of a mental health disorder).  28% are elders, most of whom are legal immigrants ineligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) due to the federal 1996 welfare reform requirements.  To qualify for these benefits individuals must be destitute with less than $304/month in income and $250 or less in assets.  The maximum monthly EAEDC grant of $303.70/month has not been increased since 1988.  In today’s dollars, the EAEDC grant would need to be raised to $535/month to address the effects of inflation on the buying power of the monthly grant.  Each year the state receives between $14 and 15 million in SSI reimbursements for benefits paid to EAEDC recipients who successfully convert to SSI.  These monies are returned to the state’s general fund.  If these federal reimbursements were instead returned to the EAEDC program to improve the program’s benefits, the state could provide recipients with a significant (nearly 27%) cost of living adjustment (COLA) in their monthly grant.

BECOME PART OF THE GROWING COALITION OF ORGANZIATIONS WORKING FOR THE INCLUSION OF A COST OF LIVING INCREASE FOR EAEDC BENEFIT RECIPIENTS WITHIN THE FY ’09 BUDGET!

Please sign the organizational endorsement form below if your organization/faith community  is willing to be listed on the fact sheet urging the  legislature to provide a COLA increase for the EAEDC benefit in the FY’09 budget.  Endorsement forms should be sent to Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, 15 Bubier Street, Lynn, MA 01901,   fax  to 781-595-7574 or email to leslie@mahomeless.org.  For  more information contact Leslie Lawrence at 781-595-7570 x16.

Organizational Endorsement

Our organization wishes to join the Coalition with its efforts to improve the safety-net for low-income elders and persons with disabilities to help them remain housed and avoid homelessness. 

__________________________                   ______________________________________________

Name                                                                            Organization/Faith Community

__________________________                   ______________________________________________

Position                                                                 Address, City and Zip

__________________________                   ______________________________________________

Phone                                                                          E-mail

For a downloadable set of postcards to mail to Gov. Deval Patrick on this issue, go here

For a statement by the Homelessness Task Force of the Massachusetts Conference, click here