Richland County of Midlands Area Consortium for the Homeless (MACH) has been chosen from other Continuum of Care (CoC)s throughout the country to receive a SOAR TA award from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The SOAR TA Award will implementing the SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR) strategy throughout Richland County. SOAR is a national best practice designed to increase access to SSI/SSDI for eligible adults who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and have a mental illness and/or a co-occurring substance use disorder or other medical impairments.
With technical assistance from SOAR, the Continuum will lead ongoing planning to significantly expand SOAR-trained staff, establish SOAR as the primary approach to benefits advocacy, and foster collaboration between agencies to reduce system costs. SOAR Technical Assistance will be crucial in developing a coherent plan with buy-in from all partners, to increase competence in the SOAR method system-wide. Ultimately this initiative’s goal will be to develop the SOAR knowledge and local agency capacity to support 700 applications annually.
Key Steps in the SOAR Process:
• Case managers receive SOAR Training to learn how to complete and submit a thorough SSI/SSDI application packet
• A state or community establishes a SOAR Process for the submission and processing of SSI/SSDI applications
• State & Local SOAR Team Leaders support SOAR-trained case managers and keep stakeholders engaged
• The SOAR TA Center provides the Technical Assistance needed to keep the SOAR effort moving forward
Click here for more information about SOAR