PSYCHOLOGY FRAUD - SSI FRAUD - HINKY LAWYERS - and HOUSING FOR THE SANE!

SSA GOV - SSI FACTSWe've heard so much about these issues that we felt it was time to speak out about them.

It's popularly thought - AND PROMOTED - that homeless people are mentally ill people and that the mental illness came first and then the homelessness.  Being homeless is very stressful and it's not unusual for a person who wasn't mentally ill when they first became homeless to slowly go crazy.  However, the purpose of psychotherapy and psychiatrists is not to condemn people to being mentally ill for life.  It's to get them well.

Recently though we heard from an ex resident of a shelter that we have linked to here at the EXPOSE HOMELESSNESS  BLOGSPOT about a situation he encountered while a temporary resident there.
He says they arranged for a lawyer to come and talk to the residents and get them SSI.  That means that they favored this one lawyer who was doing their dirty work. SSI is more money than GR, more money than no money, but there are people out there with significant physical issues who cannot get SSI.

So the "solution" is to also claim to be mentally ill.  For those with fortitude or decent values, this is fraud and there are people on the streets for years because they refuse to let go the one thing they haven't lost and that's their principals.

There are lawyers willing to get you SSI all over.  We know that some shelters like to "refer" you to a lawyer or lawyers that they think or know will "help" you.  The term "help" does not mean help you get well, it means help you get housing because you have SSI.

The lawyers all take a percentage of the money you've been granted. 

This particular lawyer was supposedly having people sign that he would take a percentage of the money they would be granted for years.   We couldn't believe it.  But the person who told us this is one of those who refused and has a college degree, high intelligence, no history of criminal or drug activity, and has a resume with Fortune 500 companies on it.  And this was a "Christian" shelter too!

Shelters WANT you to BE SICK and STAY SICK.  That's our take.


Here are some stories from the street.  (All the names have been changed.)


Nancy - fifties - Burbank area. Screenwriter who left an abusive relationship.
"I'm getting GR and EBT.  I'm not ready for SSI.  I almost sold a script recently and that's what I do in the library is write.  Being on the EBT and keeping to a gluten free diet, I've lost more than 50 pounds and improved my health.  I was in a shelter program in another city.  I got a job and save a couple thousand dollars but they kicked me out when I lost that job in a mass layoff."


Ben - early sixties - Sun Valley area.  Computer Tech.
"I was cut off of GR Disabled Status because I couldn't prove that I have carpel tunnel.  I decided to try and make some income from computer upgrades. I do several odd jobs.  I get hot meals and showers. I'm not a candidate for SSI.  I was at a temporary shelter that pushed getting it."


Valerie - late forties -  Sherman Oaks area  Actress
"Yes I have an agent.  No he doesn't know I'm homeless.  I've been sofa surfing for a few years now.  I was into my drinking but I'm in A.A.   When I was drinking, I was probably a little crazy, but I'm not now.  I was pressured to get SSI back in the day when some outreach person figured me out and it sounded like I had to be on it to be taken into their shelter."

Melvin -  twenties.  Van Nuys area  "I'm a foster kid.  I bought a car before I turned 18 working fast food.  I live in it. I was diagnosed as mentally ill when I was about 16.  I took meds.  I got off the meds and you know what, I don't think I ever needed them.  A shelter program wanted to use that medical record from a couple years ago and have me go back on the meds and go mental so I could get SSI.