The TANF/SSI Connection

Interactions and overlap of social assistance programs across clients interest policymakers because they affect client well-being and program efficiency. Connections between receipt of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are discussed in policy and poverty literatures, but reliable data on the extent of this interaction are scarce. This article develops estimates on the prevalence of SSI receipt among families receiving TANF assistance and the proportion of new SSI awards that go to adults and children in families receiving TANF or TANF-related benefits, termed Separate State Programs (SSPs). We estimate that by FY2003, 11 percent of all SSI awards to adults aged 18-64 and 35 percent of awards to children were to TANF/SSP recipients and that 16 percent of families receiving TANF/SSP in 2003 included an adult or child SSI recipient. While the absolute number of SSI awards to adults and children from AFDC/TANF families has declined by 42 percent for children and 25 percent for adults since the 1990s, the incidence of such awards has increased - from less than 1 per 1,000 children in 1991-1993 to 1.3 per 1,000 children in 2001-2003, and from 1.6 per thousand adults in 1991-1993 to 4 per thousand in 2001-2003. The connections between TANF and SSI are substantial and justify collaboration between the Social Security Administration (responsible for SSI) and the Department of Health and Human Services (responsible for TANF) in policymaking affecting families served by both agencies. Changes in work participation requirements and treatment of SSPs incorporated in the reauthorization of TANF, contained in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, strengthen the case for review of the TANF/SSI relationship.