Coalition works to expand payments for Illinois residents with disabilities, who have been hit hard by COVID-19

Monia Taylor, 64, must decide whether her monthly Supplemental Security Income will pay for food or rent, but not both. COVID-19 worsened the problem.

“The poverty Black people and disabled people face on a daily basis didn’t start with COVID,” Taylor said in an online news conference Tuesday. “The virus just exacerbated the problem.”

A member of Chicago Disability Activism Collective, Taylor works with the organization to expand rights for people in the disability community. She has the autoimmune disease Lupus.

The group Tuesday kicked off a campaign to push for an increase in Supplemental Security Income for Cook County residents with disabilities that group members hope will eventually be extended to all Illinois residents with disabilities. There are more than 150,000 Cook County residents who receive SSI, according to the proposal.

“They keep telling us to wait, but how can you wait when your bills won’t let you?” Taylor said Tuesday. “How can you wait when your needs won’t let you?”

The proposal initially would increase payments by $266 per person. The money would come from an increase in the Illinois estate tax, which is levied on the estates of deceased people. The tax applies to people with estates worth more than $4 million. The current federal SSI program, which is supplemented with additional aid in some states, provides $783 in monthly payments to individuals and $1,175 for couples, according to the Social Security Administration.

“I think the way we would like to see this expanded is through Medicaid, so that it doesn’t count toward people’s income, and then therefore increase their rent,” said Cathleen O’Brien, a member of the group.

Commissioner Alma Anaya, 7th District, who represents parts of the West and Southwest sides, said the county does not have jurisdiction over disability payments, but she wants to continue the proposal’s momentum by talking about inequities. The ultimate goal is to push the proposal in Springfield when the next session of the Illinois General Assembly starts, she said.

“As we have seen, the effects of COVID have uncovered many of the injustices and vulnerabilities that have been left unjust for far too long, and the needs of people with disabilities is definitely one of them,” Anaya said Tuesday.

Under the proposal, the supplement would be automatically distributed to people who qualify for SSI.

Adam Ballard, a transportation and housing advisor for the group, said the supplement is needed to allow people to travel and afford rent.

“You’re paying everything you have -- and then some -- in rent,” Ballard said. “SSI is not enough to pay rent anywhere in the U.S., and especially here in the Chicago area.”

Coalition President Angela Lacy said her $738 a month allows her to survive, not live. She feels she is not a part of the community, and she doesn’t have enough money to visit friends.

“Long before this pandemic, I’ve been living in a pandemic situation for a long time now,” Lacy said Tuesday.

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