Request for Support of Federal Legislative Proposal
Submitted by Samantha Vethavanam
Los Angeles City & County CoC
I am writing to request support for a federal bill proposal from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) related to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits cliff for lived experience advocates. More specifically, the proposal would disregard any compensation received for lived experience advocacy services within the homeless services system.
As we now work to find a sponsor/author for this proposal, we need to show Congress how important this legislation is. This is where we need you! There are two ways to help:
- If you want to indicate your support for this type of legislation, please click here and complete the support form.
- Support can be from an individual or an organization.
- If you, or someone you know has lived experience of homelessness and is willing to complete an anonymous benefits survey, please complete or forward this survey link.
You can read more about the proposal in the link to the support form.
Both the support form and the survey will allow us to gather the necessary information we need to show Congress how far-reaching and detrimental the SSI benefits cliff is for lived experience advocates as well as for the homeless services system. Please keep in mind that completing the support form will only indicate support of the federal proposal as it stands now. Once the bill is written and more fully formed, we will come back to you for support of the written legislation.
Link to support form: https://www.lahsa.org/policy/legislative-affairs/ssi-proposal/
Link to survey: https://forms.gle/v9YJ9UE91opVdRgJ9
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to myself (svethavanam@lahsa.org), Tiffany Duvernay-Smith (tduvernay@lahsa.org), Kelvin Lassiter (klassiter@nationalhomeless.org), or Suzette Shaw (suzetteshaw2010@yahoo.com). I am also happy to discuss the specifics of the proposal in further detail if needed.
We thank you so much for your time and advocacy! Let’s make a difference for lived experience advocates and reduce barriers to the work they do.