Homeless Man Finds $850, Turns It In And Gets Benefits Cut For His Honesty

[Purveyor]

A homeless man who turned over $850 he found on a New Jersey street is a bit poorer for his honesty now, after the Hackensack Human Services Department cut his newly-granted Medicaid and housing benefits for failing to report new income.

James Brady, 59, a former news photographer, found an envelope with $850 in it in April, and turned it in to the Hackensack police, The Bergen Record reported. Brady became a minor celebrity after word spread of his good deed, with honors from the city council and media coverage shedding light on his plight.

After his story drew attention, Brady had begun to receive psychiatric help and medication for emotional trauma — a canceled business meeting at the World Trade Center on 9/11 left him reeling for years, The Record reported. He received housing and subsistence vouchers from the city, and is beginning to turn his life around.

He also got the $850. No one claimed the money after six months of waiting.

But when he received the money, he didn’t realize that he needed to report the income to human services. And the department subsequently cut him off through Dec. 31 from benefits, including the valuable housing voucher, because he failed to report new income he received, USA Today reported.

MORE...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/10/homeless-man-finds-850-turns-it-in-and-gets-benefit-cut-for-his-honesty/

[gopiscrap]

1. that's totally fucked up

[Aristus]

2. I hope whoever authorized this sustains an agonizing attack of conscience

and reverses the decision.

Attacking the poor is easy. That's why so many people do it...

[NightWatcher]

3. Just should've kept the money and kept quiet

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. sad

[madamesilverspurs]

5. Sadly, not unusual.

In my own experience and having shared the experiences of friends, one-time events are treated as though they happen consistently. It's absurd. One gal lost a year's worth of benefits because she won a couple hundred dollars when her kids took her to play bingo on her birthday. When I asked a case-worker about such occurences, she laughed as she BRAGGED about cutting people off for having five cents too much.

[Buddha_of_Wisdom]

6. Should be beaten down for that brag.

Man.

I'd beat that caseworker and have justification.

[WinkyDink]

7. He's not too big to fail.

[pipi_k]

8. Wrong

he didn't get his benefits cut "for his honesty".

He got them cut because he didn't report the money he received.

Which sucks.

Something similar happened to me in the early 80s when I was getting aid for my kids while attending community college. I received a Pell Grant which enabled me to buy books, and I had some left over which I was able to use for bus fare to and from school for a while.

Well guess what...my aid check a few months later was cut by the $200 or so I received from the grant.

They want people off welfare, but they sure as hell don't make it easier for people to do.

I suppose someone with a penchant for drama might have written an article on my situation titled, "Mom benefits cut because she went to college!!!"

Anyway, what happened to the guy in the article stinks. But that doesn't mean people who write these articles get to misrepresent the circumstances in the titles.

[TroglodyteScholar]

9. Um, he didn't "receive" any money.

It was in his possession, but it was never his... so how TF could it possibly be "income?"

[loli phabay]

10. he got the money when no one claimmed it, so it is income of sorts

[TroglodyteScholar]

15. I understand the argument that is being put forth.

I'm just saying it's horseshit. You disagree?

[loli phabay]

18. not really, its still income that he should have reported, now its wrong hes losing benefits

And i am sure something can be worked out.

[Fumesucker]

11. If he had just kept the money and kept his mouth shut his benefits wouldn't have been cut

He however tried to do the right thing and turned the money in, when the police returned it to him later as unclaimed is when he ran into a problem.

Basically he got his benefits cut for doing the right thing.

[Orrex]

12. ^^This

[RedCappedBandit]

13. Ummm

If he wasn't so honest, and didn't turn the package in, nobody would have known about this "income". So yeah, he was penalized for his honesty.

[Gormy Cuss]

14. Right, his benefits were cut because one can't ever,ever get ahead while on benefits.

Back before cell phones, I lived in a low income community where most of the households had no phone because it was a disallowed expense under welfare guidelines. Talk about making it difficult to find and keep a job.

[arely staircase]

17. his honesty was what civil lawyers call the "proximate cause" of his benefits being cut

if he hadn't turned the money in he wouldn't have had his benefits cut.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

16. Punished for honesty and truthfulness.

Sounds like a lot of jobs I had before I gave up looking because of the corporate world's mindfucks.

[seveneyes]

19. Example of moronic governing

Where does this fucked buck stop? Some real Hackensack stupid here.