About Justice in Ageing
Justice in Ageing is a nationwide group that makes use of the facility of legislation to struggle senior poverty by securing entry to reasonably priced and equitable well being care, financial safety, housing, elder rights, and the courts for older adults with restricted sources. We imagine that we should always all be capable of entry the sources, companies, and applications we have to thrive as we get older, irrespective of our monetary circumstances, the place we come from, the place we dwell, our race, gender, gender identification, sexual orientation, incapacity, or language.
Making certain Financial and Housing Safety for Older Adults
No matter financial standing or the place we dwell, we should always all be capable of dwell and age with financial safety and in accessible, reasonably priced, age-friendly housing. But, almost 5 million older Individuals dwell on lower than $1,000 a month, over eight million seniors dwell in poverty, and older adults are on the epicenter of the nationwide housing affordability and homelessness disaster.
Justice in Ageing is dedicated to serving to low-income older adults receive and keep entry to crucial earnings helps and reasonably priced housing. We advocate for the development and enlargement of Social Safety and Supplemental Safety Earnings (SSI), which raise thousands and thousands of older adults out of poverty and assist them to dwell securely and totally, with dignity and function. Our housing work focuses on stopping and lowering homelessness amongst low-income older adults by defending tenants’ rights, strengthening eviction and civil rights protections, and rising entry to reasonably priced, accessible housing.
Social Safety and SSI
To Promote Financial Safety for Older Adults, Justice in Ageing Advocates to:
- Enhance and develop Social Safety. Over 70 million individuals, together with retirees, survivors of deceased employees, and folks with disabilities obtain Social Safety advantages. This program is among the bedrocks of our society and has the overwhelming assist of the American individuals. As only a few jobs supply pensions, wages fail to maintain tempo with inflation, and lifelong financial savings finally show insufficient to satisfy the rising value of residing, increasingly Individuals rely upon Social Safety to assist them dwell a lifetime of dignity as they age.
- We’re dedicated to making sure that Social Safety meets the wants of low-income older adults by proposals aimed toward bettering and increasing entry to advantages. Whether or not by rising advantages for long-time low-wage employees whose advantages are too low to adequately assist them of their remaining years or enhancing outreach to individuals eligible for advantages however unfamiliar with this system, we assist modifications to this system that assist older adults and their households dwell and age with dignity.
- We’ll defend towards any proposed cuts to this system, together with by proposals to boost the retirement age, minimize taxes that assist the Social Safety Belief Fund, or restrict eligibility of present or future beneficiaries.
- Modernize the Supplemental Safety Earnings (SSI) program. An important a part of the Social Safety system, the Supplemental Safety Earnings (SSI) program supplies crucial assist to very low-income older adults and folks with disabilities. Nonetheless, a long time of neglect have left its guidelines and eligibility necessities outdated, making it harder for individuals who must be receiving advantages to entry them.
- We’ll advocate for modernizing SSI to make sure this system works successfully for individuals who want it most. This contains streamlining the applying course of, bettering customer support for candidates and beneficiaries, eliminating marriage penalties, and updating overly advanced guidelines and rules. This won’t solely assist low-income seniors and folks with disabilities entry these crucial helps extra successfully, however can even scale back the executive burden on the Social Safety Administration, which is understaffed and overwhelmed by inefficient processes.
- We’ll struggle any cuts or contraction of the SSI program, whether or not by imposing new eligibility necessities, requiring further pointless layers of assessment for advantages, or creating stricter necessities for eligibility for these already burdened by outdated limitations to entry.
- Guarantee ample funding of the Social Safety Administration (SSA). The Social Safety Administration (SSA) is tasked with serving thousands and thousands of candidates and beneficiaries, but it has been compelled to take action with a declining finances and shrinking workers. This has led to important limitations for these attempting to entry advantages, together with lengthy maintain instances for phone inquiries, issue scheduling appointments, and elevated wait instances for incapacity choices. These challenges make it tough for the company to successfully serve the American public. Older adults, individuals with disabilities, and their households endure the results.
- We’ll push for Congress to offer SSA with ample funding and sources to make sure that all Individuals are capable of entry the companies and advantages they deserve.
Housing Stability and Ending Older Grownup Homelessness
To Enhance Housing Stability for Older Adults, Justice in Ageing Advocates for:
- Extra reasonably priced housing choices and sturdy applications to deal with housing insecurity and homelessness amongst older adults. Presently solely about 32% of eligible older adults obtain federal rental help, and an rising variety of older adults are dealing with housing value burdens and falling into homelessness. Multiple-third of adults experiencing homelessness are individuals age 55 and over.
- We’ll push for Congress to extend federal housing help to satisfy the wants of older adults dealing with rising rents and housing insecurity, and for extra funding to create extra reasonably priced and accessible housing for older adults and folks with disabilities.
- If lawmakers suggest to limit eligibility or scale back funding for housing applications, we are going to work with companions to defend towards such cuts.
- Enforcement of honest housing legal guidelines that prohibit housing discrimination primarily based on incapacity, race, intercourse, faith, nationwide origin, or different protected traits. Nobody ought to endure from housing insecurity or homelessness as a result of they have been the victims of discrimination. The Truthful Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination towards protected courses and requires recipients of HUD funding to take significant actions to fight discrimination and scale back limitations that prohibit entry. Moreover, Part 504 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination on the premise of incapacity in federally assisted and HUD-conducted applications.
- We’ll struggle to make sure that HUD and honest housing businesses implement the Truthful Housing Act and different civil rights legal guidelines so that each one older adults have equal entry to housing alternatives. We’ll defend towards the elimination or contraction of guidelines that defend individuals from discrimination, whether or not by administrative motion, laws, or the courts.
Our Imaginative and prescient for Financial and Housing Safety for Older Adults
Justice in Ageing envisions a world the place older adults can raise themselves out of poverty, stay financially safe, and dwell in protected, safe, and reasonably priced housing of their communities, with out discrimination.
