Brown: Personal needs allowance needs a boost

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There’s not much sympathy right now for anyone seeking a raise from the state of Illinois when so many are just trying to get paid what they are already owed.

But if there’s any understanding to be found, I’d like to think it might go to the thousands of developmentally disabled individuals who deserve an increase in what is called their personal needs allowance.

The monthly allowance is set by the state at $50 for residents of small group homes and just $30 for those living in larger intermediate care facilities.

This is the amount adults with developmental disabilities are allowed to retain from their monthly Social Security disability (SSI) checks of $733. The rest is used to offset the cost of their Medicaid-supported residential care.

The allowance is intended to enable persons with developmental disabilities to pay for items not covered by Medicaid such as toiletries, clothing, over-the-counter medication, haircuts or a trip to a movie.

Illinois’ personal needs allowance is among the lowest in the Midwest, largely because the rates were first set in 1994.

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Gov. Pat Quinn raised the allowance to $60 a month for all affected during the last year of his administration, but in July Gov. Bruce Rauner cut it back to the earlier levels. Efforts to persuade the Rauner administration to reconsider have been unsuccessful amidst the state’s multi-layered budget problems.

We’re talking here about adults who may be able to live with some level of independence but can’t really fend for themselves, and who may or may not have family involved in their lives to fill in the expense gaps. They have a wide range of mental or physical impairments including Down syndrome and autism.

Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, and Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Deerfield, have each introduced legislation to increase the personal needs allowance.

Cassidy said she has found that most people, even fellow legislators, don’t realize residents of these state-supported facilities don’t have all their needs covered and are required to personally pay some expenses.

“These are not luxuries we’re talking about here,” Cassidy said, although she argues that someone living in a group home ought to be allowed the “luxury” of occasionally getting coffee with a friend.

An Illinois House committee will take testimony April 27 in Chicago on Cassidy’s proposal to boost the allowance to 15 percent of SSI benefits. That would yield an allowance of about $110 a month, probably too big an ask in the current fiscal environment.

But many in the field agree that it makes sense to set the allowance as a percentage instead of a fixed dollar amount to account for future cost-of-living increases.

The cost of the short-lived increase to $60 a month was placed at $3 million. It’s not a huge expense.

The resulting $10-a-month raise may not seem like much money, but “it means an awful lot to that person,” said Gus van den Brink, executive director of Sertoma Centre.

The Alsip-based organization operates 13 different programs for individuals with developmental disabilities, including 10 group homes.

Van den Brink said most residents have some understanding of whether there is enough money in their accounts to pay for what they want.

“It’s so little money. It really is important to the residents in these homes,” said Dan Strick, president and CEO of Southstar Services, which also operates group homes in the south suburbs.

Strick said his organization decided it could not in good conscience reduce the personal needs allowance for its residents after the state did so, choosing to eat the difference.

Even in a state that can’t pay its bills, Cassidy believes this should be a priority.

“This is basic human dignity that we’re talking about here,” she said.

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