Are there any Social Security loopholes I can use to justify my inability to pay rent to my parents?
<p>I received $750 in SSI until May 2018, plus $130 in SNAP, and every year, they ask if I'm paying room rental. Then my mother usually signed an 801 form. However, this was the first time I heard about that since the investigator who was working on my case was different from the one who usually called me in the past.
As of March 2017 to April 2018, I haven't been able to pay my parents who are head of the household because I had endured severe medical hardship, and then I accumulated credit card debts so I could survive, and I am currently paying for phone and internet, and, because I'm blind, I take cabs a lot, like Uber and Lyft. I also buy my own groceries and meals.
Since the house is being mortgaged, and the money I should be paying would help them pay for it, was I legally obligated to pay them in any way?
Since my mother told Social Security that I wasn't paying rent, my SSI was cut, which made it more problematic for me to get out of credit card debt, plus twenty months of rent.
However, my attorney and I have a hearing in a few days and are going to argue <ul>
<li>Nobody from Social Security, until that investigator called me in March 2018, told me that I had some obligation to pay rent, or that they were also required to go and confirm it with my parents.</li>
<li>Similarly, my mother's telling me to pay her could be considered hearsay since it was second-hand information.</li>
<li>As far as I know, I had never signed any 801 forms until April 2018.</li>
<li>On Friday, 17 February 2017, I asked the investigator who was checking up on me if I needed to report any new credit cards I opened. They assured me and said I didn't have to because I'd be paying for those. So, based on that statement, I assumed that as long as I was paying for something, I didn't have to pay my parents.</li>
</ul></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>If I said that I wasn't paying, my SSI could be cut</p>
</blockquote>

<p>If you are telling SSI that you are paying rent so they give you more money, and you aren't paying rent, that's fraud.  </p>

<p>If you're filling out the form honestly, then your only obligation is to your parents.  They are free to charge you or not charge you.  Unless your name is on the mortgage, you have no obligation to the bank.</p>

<p>It appears from the SSA website that a different benefit amount applies to people who live on their own or contribute to the household versus folks who get free or subsidized housing. From <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-general-ussi.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-general-ussi.htm</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Live alone or pay your share of food and housing costs (Jan. 2019): $771 (individual)</p>
<p>Live in the household of another (Jan. 2019): $514
(individual)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is also another page that goes into detail about how this works. Basically, your new case worker has decided that because you are still living at your parent's home and not contributing rent, your benefits should be reduced to the non-rent paying amount.</p>

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