Social Security May Owe You Money

In an article on the Washington Post website a well known homeless woman finally convinced someone that the government owed her money. Wanda Witter sleeps outside of a cafe in Washington D.C. every night. She sleeps in a blue sleeping bag with a hand cart full of suitcases locked to the patio chairs. Witter lost her job in Corning, New York and went to study law. She moved to D.C. to find a job but ended up becoming homeless. In those suitcases are papers to prove that the government owed her money. A social worker named Julie Turner was finally convinced that Witter was not crazy. She did look at Witter's  papers and confirmed that the government did owe her money. Witter has been to many mental institutions because people believed that she was crazy. Social security was understaffed and in the end stopped contacting Witter. Witter found a lawyer and eventually she did began to receive checks. The Washington Post mentioned how the baby boomer generation has been swelling while there is not enough young younger generations workers to cover for the baby boomers. Turner also believes that many of the capital's homelessness is due to economic issues rather than mental issues. She says that we often write people off as mentally ill instead of really listening to what they are trying to say.