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June 7, 2007
NEW YORK COURT OF APPEALS UNANIMOUSLY STRIKES DOWN CRUEL WELFARE POLICY
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SSI Invisibility still eludes poor families struggling with HIV and a disabled child |
The New York Court of Appeals ruled unanimously today that State and City welfare officials broke the law for almost four years by forcing Bronx resident Zoraida Melendez to count her disabled child's SSI payments as available family income, reducing the indigent family's monthly public assistance grant by about $580 a month.
The Court ruled that state law required welfare officials to treat such benefits as "invisible" when calculating household budgets, allowing children to keep their federal disability payments, which are aimed at defraying disability-related costs.
The decision in Melendez v. Doar solidifies the rights of thousands of indigent and disabled New York children to keep their SSI benefits, the subject of a similar lawsuit, Doe v. Doar, brought on behalf of indigent New York families not living with AIDS.
Ironically, families living with AIDS may not be accorded this protection in the future, unless Governor Spitzer and legislators move forward with agreed-upon changes in budget bills now under discussion in Albany.
In April 2006, Governor Pataki inserted one paragraph of technical language into State Appropriations Law to annul the victory of Ms. Melendez and her disabled child in the intermediate appellate court.
That language, the Court of Appeals ruled today, overrides controlling welfare law.
Under the Pataki policy, State welfare officials denied "invisibility" to the Melendez family and others who receive enhanced shelter payments available to homeless and formerly homeless people living with AIDS.
Ironically, these are the only public assistance recipients who are not now accorded SSI invisibility in New York State: Pataki's policy expressly applies only to recipients of the HIV/AIDS shelter allowance, and not to any other public assistance recipients.
Top Spitzer administration officials have announced their intention to reverse the Pataki policy, and are working to include necessary language changes in budget bills now under negotiation in Albany. The bills are expected to be passed before the end of this year's legislative session on June 21, but until the policy is reversed thousands of families will continue to lose an average of $568 per month in survival benefits.
Armen H. Merjian, Senior Staff Attorney at Housing Works, counsel for Ms. Melendez, commented: "Today, the Court upheld a law that the State has long violated, to the great detriment of poor families living with disability in this State. But we are disappointed that the Court has carved out an exception for families living with AIDS based upon Governor Pataki's Dickensian manipulation of the Appropriations Law. We call upon Governor Spitzer and the Legislature to immediately remedy this cruel inequity in the 2007 Appropriations Law, currently slated for passage this month."
Decision in Melendez v. Doar available at:www.nycourts.gov/ctapps/decisions/jun07/73opn07.pdf