Library & Tools

This infographic provides a simple flowchart for how to best contact your local SSA office.

SOAR seeks to increase access to Social Security Administration (SSA) disability benefits for people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness. To achieve this goal, collaborations with SSA and the Disability Determination Services (DDS) are absolutely essential. SOAR can provide invaluable assistance to both SSA and DDS and, similarly, SSA and DDS can help to streamline the process for SOAR providers and for the applicants they both serve.

This issue brief, developed by the SAMHSA SOAR TA Center, provides strategies for forming partnerships, examples, and a sample agreement to help hospitals and community programs create collaborations that are mutually beneficial.

How substance use is considered in the disability determination process has changed substantially over the years. This article dispels several widely-held myths about how DDS views substance use (such as you have to be clean and sober to get benefits), and its impact on the application process.

Documenting substance use for an application is not just about finding out how much the person uses or how often.

In this two-part webinar series, held on October 18 and 25, 2017, presenters shared their knowledge of opioid use disorders, opioid misuse and marijuana use among individuals experiencing homelessness.

This webinar, held on December 12, 2018, explored how opioid or other substance use disorders impact SOAR-assisted SSI/SSDI applicants.

Understanding the Social Security Administration’s evaluation criteria for SSI/SSDI applications involving co-occurring disorders is critical to providing effective representation.

This webinar, held on August 23, 2023, addressed the concept of “materiality” and how to demonstrate to DDS that past or ongoing substance use is not material to a finding of disability

The following stories were submitted with permission to the SOAR Technical Assistance Center in response to a call for examples of how Social Security disability benefits have changed the lives of people who were experiencing or at risk for homelessness.