On April 18, Deliesha Brown, Esq., Director of Public Benefits Practice Group at ICLS, shed light on how our team tackles homelessness in the IE and beyond, by understanding disability insurance accessibility and providing compassionate care to those in need.
With homelessness rising in the IE and increasing over time in San Bernardino (SB) County, organizations like ICLS and host of the April 18 presentation titled, “Multidisciplinary Approaches to End Homelessness,” SB County’s Office of Homeless Services, are working together to help community members struck by homelessness access and navigate resources like those provided by the United States Social Security Administration (SSA).
“[Accessing] disability-based benefits can be a complicated process,” says Brown. “I believe that through this presentation, the County employees will have a basic understanding of the disability process to better help connect our [community members] to the proper resources so that potential disability benefits applicants can be fully prepared for the SSA process.”
Meanwhile, these presentations hosted by SB County come at a time when the nation itself is struggling to identify better ways of combatting the homelessness issue.
Heard on April 22, 2024, the Supreme Court case, Johnson v. Grants Pass, garnered significant attention, questioning whether cities can penalize individuals experiencing homelessness when adequate shelter is unavailable.
Some politicians and advocates argue that this would allow cities more flexibility in addressing homelessness, while others contend that criminalization exacerbates the crisis increasing the instances of fundamental human rights violations and disproportionately impacting vulnerable populations.
For the moment, misinformation about the root causes of homelessness persists, further complicating efforts to address the issue effectively.
Advocates stress the importance of supporting evidence-driven solutions and urge individuals to advocate for compassionate approaches to homelessness in their communities.