The Syracuse Social Security office has been closed since March of 2020 due to concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Fast forward two years later and the offices doors are still locked which is causing a lot of strain for people in CNY.
Transcript
JOHN EADS:The scene outside of the James M. Hanley US Courthouse & Federal Building is barren and empty. It’s been this way since March of 2020 when the building closed down due to concerns over the COVID-19 Pandemic. Flashforward two years and the doors are still closed.
EADS: So since the offices are closed and have been closed for two years, this creates a whole big hassle for people looking to get their social security benefits. So instead, they have to use the phone to call into the offices and we all know how much of a hassle that can be.
EADS: On top of the tedious over the phone process there are other complex steps people need to take to receive their benefits. For example, any documents going between parties must be faxed. Executive Director of the Westcott Community Center Joan Royle says this is a massive hurdle for some people.
JOAN ROYLE: With people that live in poverty or people that don’t have the resources, faxing is a difficult thing. I know you can go to a local Staples office but for not everyone, that’s an easy thing do.
EADS: Even if people complete all the necessary steps to get in contact with the Social Security Office, the process of actually receiving benefits is very slow.
ROYLE: A form that they were waiting for had to be mailed to them and that took several weeks to get that piece of mail just to fill out that form that they needed to fax back.
EADS: While this is all happening people still have lives to orchestrate. Syracuse University Professor and Social Security Eric Kingson says most people rely heavily on their social security benefits.
ERIC KINGSON: For many people this is the core source of income they’ll have. For older people, social security, for two-thirds of old people, social security provides at least half of their income.
EADS: No official re-opening date has been released but stay tuned to NCCNews.Com for more information as it becomes available. Reporting from Syracuse, I’m John Eads NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)- The Syracuse Social Security office has been closed for about two years now. The building was originally shut down due to concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other public offices like the DMV have since re-opened to the public while the social security office has kept its doors locked. The past two years of closure have caused a lot of stress to local people because all business matters have been shifted to online and over the phone.
Obviously this takes away the face-to-face interaction people are more receptive to. This lack of direct communication has caused several hurdles, some of which are difficult to deal with for certain people. For example, all documents going between people seeking benefits and the social security workers must be faxed rather than emailed or anything else. Westcott Community Center Executive Director Joan Royle said this is more challenging for certain demographics than people think.
“With people that live in poverty or people that don’t have the resources, faxing is a difficult thing,” Royle said. ” I know you can go to a local Staples office but for not everyone, that’s an easy thing to do.”
Now even if you complete the steps to fax everything, the follow-up process is very slow. One of Royle’s relatives had a very extended encounter with the social security process.
“A form they were waiting for had to be mailed to them and that took several weeks to get that piece of mail just to fill out that form they needed to fax back,” Royle said.
While all of this chaos is happening, people still have lives to orchestrate. On top of that, many people need their social security benefits to live. Eric Kingson, a Syracuse University professor and social security expert, laid out just how heavily people rely on these benefits.
“For many people, this is the core source of income they’ll have,” Kingson said. “For older people, social security, for two-thirds of old people, social security provides at least half of their income.”
No official re-opening date has been announced so in the mean time people just have to keep following the current remote system. When a re-opening date is released we’ll have full coverage @NCCNewsOnline on Twitter