Unfortunately Dee, I'm fairly sure. I argue SSI and RSDI claims in front of judges for a living. Admittedly, I spend 99% of my time on the medical decision-making and haven't so much as called a field office for anything like sorting out the PERC interview in about a year and a half, and I do tend to largely ignore the $20 exclusion because, well, it's only $20, and I'll also admit the first month eligibility math is just insane, but here's SSA math generally:
https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0502005090And the law they're following, which is just as messy:
https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0502005090In practice, if the SSI benefit amount is $733 and you get $200 a month from some other program, you'll probably get $533 in SSI for those months. If someone is providing room and board, you'll lose a third of the monthly amount for that before we start worrying about anything else.
Now, deeming other household income is just a flaming mess, and things like your spouse's income will have the first bit ignored, then there's an ugly formula (quarterback rating or 12 meter yacht kind of ugly) that looks a lot like some idiot vastly over-complicated a delayed 1 for 2 reduction until no benefits are payable.
Keep in mind all those reductions are SSI, not RSDI. If you're getting disability insurance benefits based on your work history, you can have a part-time job, be married to a millionaire, and have a garage full of Ferraris. But the bottom line is that for something that strictly speaking isn't a welfare program, SSI is sure treated a lot like a welfare program with a real "screw you" attitude from the policy makers. It shows in things like figuring out benefit amounts.
