A 45-year-old woman was forced to “sleep behind garbage cans” and “eat out of garbage” after Social Security claimed a $26,000 overpayment.
Christy Strong, who lives in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, was shocked when her Supplemental Security Income benefits were stopped in January of last year.
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The 45-year-old woman is one of the millions who receive monthly benefits as a result of her permanent disability, which she has suffered from since 2010.
However, when her Social Security notice came with an overpayment bill of more than $26,000, Christy found herself trapped.
She claims the bill arrived because the Social Security Administration (SSA) believed her assets exceeded the $2,000 limit by $1.
Christie told Newsweek that the agency claimed she was “overpaid” and had “nothing” because she was “sleeping behind garbage cans” and “eating out of garbage cans.”
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She immediately appealed and contacted legal counsel after receiving the letter, but had been waiting for a court date for more than six months, even though her lawyer told her the case had been expedited.
Her Supplemental Security Income began in 2010 when she was 29 after being diagnosed with bipolar 1 disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The disorders can be extremely debilitating, with Christie suffering from insomnia and severe panic attacks.
She said that no matter how many medications she tried to help alleviate her suffering, they all had bad side effects, with therapists considering Christie herself “treatment resistant.”
Over the past five years, she has been off all medications, and said that although the symptoms still affect her, they are more manageable than the side effects of the medications.
Initially, Christie was unaware of the assets the DSA was referring to, and was later informed that the agency believed she had inherited property following her grandmother's death in November 2021.
She says she then told the Social Security Administration that she had not inherited anything, because her grandmother had given everything to her aunt, who did not have enough money to be able to probate the will.
Christie claims she signed a paper agreeing not to make a will and that she “did not inherit” anything.
The SSA then told her she would have to provide proof that she didn't own the property, even though the house was never in her name.
Christie described how the ordeal took a toll on her mental health and how difficult it was to escape homelessness just before the payments stopped.
“Relying on SSI as your only form of income and health insurance for years is like being in a little lifeboat in a hurricane, a little raft that's torn up and full of holes, and you know your chances aren't great, but someone in a much larger boat has thrown you a rope,” she said. Survival, and you just pray that nothing happens to the rope, because it is your only hope.”
The 45-year-old went on to say she feels abandoned and “drowning” after the end of her support, which came after she “worked” her way out of homelessness.
Praying for the return of benefits
She has been without a home for almost two years and has just started living with her partner David, who also relies on SSI.
After their money was cut in half, Christy and David worried that they would no longer be able to stay with the sympathetic landlord they had been with for two months.
However, they have been able to afford accommodation thanks to their local church, UMC Riverside, which helps them pay rent and utilities, which amount to $450 a month.
Christie says she would have been homeless again without the help, and she's still praying to see if she can get her benefits back.
Many have called on the Social Security Administration to expand its asset limits so that people like Christie don't lose their benefits, or worse, be hit with massive overpayment bills that they will likely never be able to pay.
Currently, the limit is only $2,000 and has not changed since 1989.
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