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Social Services Block Grant

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What is the Social Services Block Grant?

The Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), also known at Title XX of the Social Security Act, was created in 1981. SSBG is a flexible block grant used to address the needs of children and families, the elderly and vulnerable adults and helps them avoid more expensive government assistance by remaining in the community in the most independent setting possible. SSBG funds services for over 13 million low-income individuals and families, people in jeopardy of entering a nursing home or institution, children and adults who have been abused or neglected, and other vulnerable populations. As a block grant, it is able to fund the most critical needs in a community.

States must use SSBG funds to provide services directed at one or more of five broad goals:

Achieving or maintaining economic self-support to prevent, reduce, or eliminate dependency;
Achieving or maintaining self-sufficiency, including reduction or prevention of dependency;
Preventing or remedying neglect, abuse, or exploitation of children and adults unable to protect their own interests, or preserving, rehabilitating or reuniting families;
Preventing or reducing inappropriate institutional care by providing for community-based care, home-based care, or other forms of less intensive care; and
Securing referral or admission for institutional care when other forms of care are not appropriate, or providing services to individuals in institutions.

Funding for SSBG has continually decreased

During welfare reform in 1996, Congress and the Governors agreed to reduce SSBG funding to $2.38 billion for 5 years and then return it to its former level of $2.8 billion in 2003. Unfortunately, the funding level was reduced again in 1998 and is currently funded at $1.7 billion a year. The cut in SSBG has forced social services providers to discontinue services to children, families, the elderly and people with disabilities, lay off staff, and reduce benefits for vulnerable families.

In 2003, the Senate restored funding for SSBG in the CARE Act. However, the Administration and the House did not support restoring SSBG funding and it was not included in any final legislation of the 108th Congress. LSA will continue to advocate for restoring SSBG to pre-1996 levels.